Citroën’s Yvan Muller set the pace in first practice for the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in Shanghai, beating Honda’s Gabriele Tarquini to the top time by 0.213 seconds.
Frenchman Muller posted his fastest time on his very first lap in the session, which was ultimately a quiet affair with no major incidents.
Championship leader José María López was third fastest, 0.266 seconds slower than Muller. Fourth, and making a significant improvement on his pace from Friday, was Chinese racer Ma Qing Hua, who was just over half a second off the pace in hisoff the pace in his Citroën.
The second works’ Honda of Tiago Monteiro was fifth, ahead of the final Citroën of Sébastien Loeb in sixth.
ROAL Motorsport’s Tom Chilton was the top Chevrolet driver in seventh, ahead of the Zengő Motorsport Honda of Norbert Michelisz in eighth, who was the last driver to be within a second of the pace.
Completing the top ten were the second ROAL car of Tom Coronel and Proteam Racing’s Mehdi Benanni.
Having failed to complete any laps on Friday due to mechanical problems with his car, Campos Racing’s Dušan Borković fared better in first practice, completing 11 laps and posting the 12th fastest time in his Chevrolet.
LADA struggled for pace in first practice, with all three of its drivers more than 2.5 seconds off the pace. Rob Huff led the way for the Russian marque in 15th, ahead of Mikhail Kozlovskiy in 16th and James Thompson in 17th.
The fastest time in TC2 belonged to Franz Engstler, with Campos Racing’s John Filippi a further 1.2 seconds slower than the veteran German.
Session results
| POS | NO | CL | DRIVER | NAT | ENTRANT | CAR | LAPS | TIME | GAP |
| 1 | 1 | TC1 | Yvan MULLER |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 14 | 1:51.060 | |
| 2 | 2 | TC1 | Gabriele TARQUINI |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:51.273 | 0.213 |
| 3 | 37 | TC1 | José María LÓPEZ |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 11 | 1:51.326 | 0.266 |
| 4 | 33 | TC1 | MA Qing Hua |  |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:51.588 | 0.528 |
| 5 | 18 | TC1 | Tiago MONTEIRO |  |
Castrol Honda WTC Team | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:51.627 | 0.567 |
| 6 | 9 | TC1 | Sébastien LOEB | |
Citroën Total WTCC | Citroën C-Elysée WTCC | 13 | 1:51.771 | 0.711 |
| 7 | 3 | TC1 | Tom CHILTON |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:51.790 | 0.730 |
| 8 | 5 | TC1 | Norbert MICHELISZ |  |
Zengő Motorsport | Honda Civic WTCC | 11 | 1:51.885 | 0.825 |
| 9 | 4 | TC1 | Tom CORONEL |  |
ROAL Motorsport | Chevrolet RML Cruze TC1 | 11 | 1:52.403 | 1.343 |
| 10 | 25 | TC1 | Mehdi BENNANI |  |
Proteam Racing | Honda Civic WTCC | 12 | 1:52.610 | 1.550 |