El porsche nº 20 consigue superar a los dos toyota que habían marcado el ritmo en los dos anteriores entrenos libres
De la mano de Bernhard, Webber y Hartley el porsche 919 hybrid del equipo porsche team ha marcado el mejor tiempo de los terceros entrenos libres que se han producido en el circuido de Shanghai. De esta forma se rompe el dominio previo de los dos toyota ts-040 hybrid.
Mucha humedad en el ambiente pero sin lluvia, se ha podido ver el potencial tanto del porsche como del toyota ya que han sido los únicos que han marcado su vuelta rápida en 1.48. Así pues, esperamos ver una batalla para la pole position entre estos dos equipos.
Resultados:
| Pos. | Car | Category | Drivers | Car | Team | Laps | Time | Gap |
| 1 | 20 | LMP1-H | Bernhard – Webber – Hartley | Porsche 919 Hybrid | Porsche Team | 20 | 1:48,173 | |
| 2 | 8 | LMP1-H | Davidson – Lapierre – Buemi | Toyota TS 040 – Hybrid | Toyota Racing | 23 | 1:48,417 | + 0,244 |
| 3 | 7 | LMP1-H | Wurz – Sarrazin – Conway | Toyota TS 040 – Hybrid | Toyota Racing | 24 | 1:48,859 | + 0,686 |
| 4 | 1 | LMP1-H | Di Grassi – Duval – Kristensen | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi Sport Team Joest | 25 | 1:49,369 | + 1,196 |
| 5 | 14 | LMP1-H | Dumas – Jani – Lieb | Porsche 919 Hybrid | Porsche Team | 26 | 1:49,751 | + 1,578 |
| 6 | 2 | LMP1-H | Fässler – Lotterer – Treluyer | Audi R18 e-tron quattro | Audi Sport Team Joest | 23 | 1:50,147 | + 1,974 |
| 7 | 12 | LMP1-L | Prost – Heidfeld – Beche | Rebellion R-One – Toyota | Rebellion Racing | 17 | 1:51,942 | + 3,769 |
| 8 | 13 | LMP1-L | Kraihamer – Belicchi – Leimer | Rebellion R-One – Toyota | Rebellion Racing | 19 | 1:52,926 | + 4,753 |
| 9 | 26 | LMP2 | Rusinov – Pla – Canal | Ligier JS P2 – Nissan | G-Drive Racing | 21 | 1:55,050 | + 6,877 |
| 10 | 37 | LMP2 | Ladygin – Shaitar – Ladygin | Oreca 03R – Nissan | SMP Racing | 22 | 1:56,321 | + 8,148 |
| 11 | 47 | LMP2 | Howson – Bradley – Matsuda | Oreca 03 – Nissan | KCMG | 19 | 1:56,562 | + 8,389 |
| 12 | 27 | LMP2 | Zlobin – Minassian – Mediani | Oreca 03R – Nissan | SMP Racing | 23 | 1:56,603 | + 8,430 |
| 13 | 30 | LMP2 | Sharp – Dalziel – Gonzalez | HPD ARX 03B – Honda | Extreme Speed Motorsports | 16 | 1:56,873 | + 8,700 |
| 14 | 35 | LMP2 | Cheng – Tung – Patterson | Morgan – Judd | OAK Racing | 22 | 1:58,256 | + 10,083 |
| 15 | 31 | LMP2 | Van Overbeek – Brabham – Brown | HPD ARX 03B – Honda | Extreme Speed Motorsports | 18 | 1:58,667 | + 10,494 |
| 16 | 9 | LMP1-L | Bouchut – Rossiter – Auer | Lotus T129 – AER | Lotus | 20 | 1:59,024 | + 10,851 |
| 17 | 95 | GTE Am | Poulsen – Heinemeier-Hansson – Stanaway | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | 24 | 2:03,984 | + 15,811 |
| 18 | 97 | GTE Pro | Turner – Mücke | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | 21 | 2:04,331 | + 16,158 |
| 19 | 92 | GTE Pro | Makowiecki – Lietz | Porsche 911 RSR | Porsche Team Manthey | 23 | 2:04,474 | + 16,301 |
| 20 | 98 | GTE Am | Dalla Lana – Lamy – Nygaard | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | 20 | 2:04,697 | + 16,524 |
| 21 | 71 | GTE Pro | Rigon – Calado | Ferrari F458 Italia | AF Corse | 24 | 2:04,767 | + 16,594 |
| 22 | 51 | GTE Pro | Bruni – Vilander | Ferrari F458 Italia | AF Corse | 24 | 2:04,846 | + 16,673 |
| 23 | 91 | GTE Pro | Pilet – Bergmeister | Porsche 911 RSR | Porsche Team Manthey | 24 | 2:04,997 | + 16,824 |
| 24 | 99 | GTE Pro | MacDowall – O’Young – Rees | Aston Martin Vantage V8 | Aston Martin Racing | 23 | 2:05,222 | + 17,049 |
| 25 | 90 | GTE Am | Roda – Ruberti – Segal | Ferrari F458 Italia | 8 Star Motorsports | 21 | 2:05,317 | + 17,144 |
| 26 | 88 | GTE Am | Ried – Bachler – Al Qubaisi | Porsche 911 RSR | Proton Competition | 22 | 2:05,759 | + 17,586 |
| 27 | 75 | GTE Am | Perrodo – Collard – Vaxiviere | Porsche 911 RSR | Prospeed Competition | 21 | 2:06,593 | + 18,420 |