Lopez on pole, Citroën wins

José Maria Lopez won a new pole in Shanghai (China) after dominating the three qualifying sessions. By setting a time of 1'49''339 in the last session, the three-time world champion was a tenth ahead of Nicky Catsburg's Lada who preceded Yvan Muller (Citroën) half a second behind his teammate.

This result allowed Citroën to secure the Manufacturers' title with three rounds remaining in the season against Honda and Lada, with Volvo entering only two cars.

Mehdi Bennani completed the second row in his private Citroën C-Elysée, while Thed Björk (Volvo) completed the top five in Q3. Gabriele Tarquini (Lada) took sixth place ahead of Fredrik Ekblöm (Volvo) and Tom Chilton ( Citroën).

Honda struggled during Shanghai qualifying as only Norbert Michelisz placed a Civic WTCC in the top ten by taking ninth position ahead of John Filippi (Chevrolet) who will start on pole for Race 1. Tiago Monteiro and Rob Huff failed in Q2 taking 13th and 14th place respectively.

Honda made up for it by winning the MAC3 with almost three tenths ahead of the Ladas. Citroën did not set a time due to a technical problem on Mehdi Bennani's C-Elysée.