Renaud Kuppens was beaming at the end of the first practice session. His time of 1:55.312 saw him impose himself on his rivals at the Shanghai circuit in China. The Maserati Trofeo world title is up for grabs this weekend and Kuppens wants to add it to the European crown he has already secured. Behind him, 0.047 seconds back, is the Ragazzi/Simoni duo and in third, with a lap of 1:55.529, is the returning Ange Barde. Next up is Dromedari/Pigoli (1:55.776) and De Leener/Sbirrazzuoli. The other title challengers, Italians Fascicolo/Sernagiotto, took sixth in 1:55.954.

Another driver dipping under the 1.57 barrier was Mathijs Bakker, the pairing of Ringo Chong and Brazilian Carlos Alberto, and Venezuelan Justino Azcarate.
Posting 1:57.005 gave Australian Richard Denny tenth spot. He edged out Venier/Gardelli, Shaun Thong/Eric Lo, Philip Ma/Jacky Yeung, Segler and Tadlaoui.
On the provisional row eight finished Andrew Luk/Yu Kam Cheong and Guenther Forster. Eighteenth spot went to Eric Cheung with De Leener (Adrien’s father) behind him. Journalists Yu Qi/Wei Wang came next, ahead of Rasmussen Lung Yuk Siu and Billy Fung. The final two slots were filled by Benny Lim/Gerard Yap and Nielsen, after he had strayed off the track.