Yvan Muller set the pace in first free practice for the World Touring Car Championship round at Valencia's Ricardo Tormo Circuit, as Chevrolet filled the top three positions.
Muller was six tenths clear of teammate Alain Menu. Championship leader Rob Huff was only 0.031s behind the Swiss driver in third place.
Tom Coronel was not far behind the Chevrolets in fourth place, less than a tenth behind Menu in his ROAL Motorsport BMW. Robert Dahlgren was next up in the Polestar Volvo, followed by the Sunred duo of Gabriele Tarquini and Tiago Monteiro who won the two races at the Spanish track last year.
Franz Engstler was the best of the Yokohama Trophy runners in eighth, fresh from his outright victory at Oschersleben. He was joined in the top ten by Norbert Michelisz and Michel Nykjaer.
Darryl O'Young did not set a time due to a power steering failure on his Bamboo Chevrolet. Debutant David Sigacev was 19th of the 20 drivers to set a time in his KK Motorsport-entered BMW.
Free Practice 1 times:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | Yvan Muller | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:42.936 | 10 | |
| 2 | Alain Menu | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:43.579 | 0.643 | 10 |
| 3 | Robert Huff | Chevrolet | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:43.610 | 0.674 | 10 |
| 4 | Tom Coronel | ROAL | BMW 320 TC | 1:43.673 | 0.737 | 13 |
| 5 | Robert Dahlgren | Polestar | Volvo C30 Drive | 1:43.885 | 0.949 | 5 |
| 6 | Gabriele Tarquini | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:44.041 | 1.105 | 5 |
| 7 | Tiago Monteiro | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:44.183 | 1.247 | 13 |
| 8 | Franz Engstler | Engstler | BMW 320 TC | 1:44.593 | 1.657 | 7 |
| 9 | Norbert Michelisz | Zengo | BMW 320 TC | 1:44.695 | 1.759 | 13 |
| 10 | Michel Nykjaer | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:44.921 | 1.985 | 11 |
| 11 | Javier Villa | Proteam | BMW 320 TC | 1:45.078 | 2.142 | 14 |
| 12 | Fredy Barth | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:45.091 | 2.155 | 11 |
| 13 | Pepe Oriola | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:45.201 | 2.265 | 11 |
| 14 | Stefano D’Aste | Wiechers | BMW 320 TC | 1:45.204 | 2.268 | 16 |
| 15 | Aleksei Dudukalo | Sunred | Sunred SR Leon 1.6T | 1:45.416 | 2.480 | 9 |
| 16 | Yukinori Taniguchi | Bamboo | Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T | 1:45.758 | 2.822 | 13 |
| 17 | Kristian Poulsen | Engstler | BMW 320 TC | 1:45.857 | 2.921 | 15 |
| 18 | Mehdi Bennani | Proteam | BMW 320 TC | 1:46.021 | 3.085 | 15 |
| 19 | David Sigacev | KK | BMW 320 TC | 1:47.123 | 4.187 | 11 |
| 20 | Fabio Fabiani | Proteam | BMW 320si | 1:50.231 | 7.295 | 14 |
