After two rounds, José María López led the drivers' championship by twelve points over teammate Sébastien Loeb.

The Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1, Honda Civic WTCC and Lada Granta 1.6T all remained at the base weight of 1,100 kilograms (2,425 lb).

[1] Tom Coronel returned after being forced to miss the Race of France due to damage sustained to his Chevrolet Cruze at the opening round of the season.

After initially expecting to miss the practice sessions while final repairs were made, Coronel was able to take part in Friday testing.

[3] Gabriele Tarquini led a Honda 1–2–3 in Friday testing, Mehdi Bennani in the Proteam Racing–run car was second with Tiago Monteiro third.

[5] Yvan Muller led a Citroën 1–2–3 in free practice two, Bennani in fourth was the highest placed Honda and Chilton in sixth was the fastest Chevrolet.

Bennani missed out on Q3 due to Monteiro's late improvement while Valente and Michelisz spoiled their lap times with mistakes, ending the session 11th and 12th respectively.

Muller claimed pole in the Q3 shootout at the head of a Citroën 1–2–3 while Monteiro was the best of the Castrol Honda World Touring Car Team pair who ended up fourth and fifth.

By lap seven Coronel was still keeping Muller and Lopez behind, allowing Morbidelli, Monteiro and Valente to break away from the rest of the field.