Davies leads the charge in FP1

Aruba.it Ducati’s Chaz Davies topped the opening practice session at Magny Cours ahead of the tenth round of the 2016 World Superbike Championship, edging out Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea in the closing stages.

The Welshman comes into this weekend off the back of a mixed German round. Davies dominated the opening race at the Lausitzing for his fifth win of the season, but struggled in the wet conditions of race two and crossed the line a distant sixth. The Ducati rider topped this morning’s one hour session with a 1m38.262 to go just four hundredths of a second clear of the field.

Rea heads into the French round of the championship wary of his gap in the standings despite it being at a fairly comfortable 47 points. A double winner at Magny Cours last season, Rea is aiming high this weekend. The Northern Irishman ended FP1 second on a 1m38.302s ahead of Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores.

Tom Sykes will be desperate to make up for a missed opportunity in Germany when he crashed out of race two having cut the gap to just 26 points to his teammate in the championship. The 2013 World Champion is handy around the 4.4km French circuit, winning at the event on three occasions. He was fourth in FP1, half a second from top spot.

Alex Lowes enjoyed a strong start despite still feeling battered and bruised after a huge crash at the Aragon MotoGP round last week. The British rider, who was in his third outing as a Tech 3 Yamaha rider, came off at the end of the back straight during FP1 and bashed his foot pretty hard. Though suffering no broken bones, the pain in his foot saw him decide to prioritise WorldSBK and sit out the Grand Prix. Lowes was fifth this morning, with countryman Leon Camier two tenths adrift in sixth.

Markus Reiterberger was the top BMW rider in FP1, guiding his Althea S1000RR to a 1m38.957s to seventh on the time sheets, whilst teammate Jordi Torres was ninth. Sandwiched between the pair was home hero Sylvain Guintoli, The Pata Yamaha rider eight tenths off the pace in eighth.

Nicky Hayden, fresh from the Aragon Grand Prix where he was Jack Miller’s replacement at the Marc VDS Honda team, completed the top 10 in FP1. It was a difficult morning for his Honda teammate Michael van der Mark , who was kept in his garage with an engine issue.