Citroën’s Ma Qing Hua topped the final World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) free practice session in Beijing in China, with the session being red-flagged prematurely due to darkness.
Monteiro posted his time of 1:05.978 in the closing seconds of the session, as the red flag came out due to lighting being too poor in Beijing, where the local time was 18:00. However Monteiro’s time wasthen disallowed, due to having been set after the red flag flew, denying him the chance to top all of Saturday’s sessions.
LADA’s Rob Huff was second fastest, having made progress up the timesheets towards the end of the session. Münnich Motorsport’s Gianni Morbidelli was an impressive third, despite almost spinning into the gravel trap in the second half of the session.
Less fortunate was ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Coronel, who caused the first red flag stoppage when he beeched his Chevrolet in the gravel whilst trying to avoid the spinning Thompson ahead. Coronel was not allowed to resume in the session, despite being pulled free from the gravel, and ended in 16th.
Citroën duo Yvan Muller and Sébastien Loeb ended the session in fourth and fifth, ahead of LADA’s James Thompson who also had his final lap time disallowed due to the red flag.
Championship leader José María López was seventh quickest, unable to match the pace of his Citroën team-mates.
Campos Racing’s Hugo Valente also had a difficult session, completing just five laps and ending down in 20th position after problems with his Chevrolet.
Franz Engstler was again fastest in the TC2 class, almost a second faster than Campos Racing’s Michael Soong.
Qualifying, uniquely, does not take place on Saturday and is scheduled to take place at 08:30 Beijing time on Sunday (02:30 CEST, 01:30 BST).
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 33 | TC1 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 1:06.127 | |
| 2 | 12 | TC1 | Rob HUFF |  |
LADA Sport | LADA Granta 1.6T | 19 | 1:06.208 | 0.081 |
| 3 | 10 | TC1 | Gianni MORBIDELLI |  |
ALL-INKL.COM Münnich Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 12 | 1:06.231 | 0.104 |
| 4 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 1:06.263 | 0.136 |
| 5 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 18 | 1:06.320 | 0.193 |
| 6 | 11 | TC1 | James THOMPSON | |
LADA Sport | LADA Granta 1.6T | 18 | 1:06.330 | 0.203 |
| 7 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 16 | 1:06.397 | 0.270 |
| 8 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 18 | 1:06.404 | 0.277 |
| 9 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON | |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 17 | 1:06.656 | 0.529 |
| 10 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI | |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 16 | 1:06.765 | 0.638 |