MV Agusta’s PJ Jacobsen led Lorini Honda’s Kyle Smith in the first free practice session for the Supersport class at Aragon.
Jacobesen has endured a torrid start to his 2017 campaign, the American only scoring 10 points after a Phillip Island race riddled with errors and an engine blow up last time out in Thailand.
The MV rider, determined to get his challenge back on track, shot to the top of the pile in FP1 with a 1m54.751s, almost half a second clear of Smith. CIA Landlords Honda’s Hikari Okuba completed the top three.
Sheridan Morais impressed on his Kalllio Yamaha in fourth ahead of Christian Gamarino and the returning Kenan Sofuoglu, who has been absent from the opening two rounds following surgery on a hand injury.
Problems for his main rivals in the previous races see Sofuoglu only 30 points down on surprise championship leader Roberto Rolfo
Niki Tuuli, on the sister Kallio bike, was seventh quickest, though a second down on Jacobsen. The Finnish rider headed Gino Rea, Alessandro Zaccone and Robin Mulhauser.
Michael Canducci was not far off this group in 11th, whilst Jules Cluzel and Lucas Mahias will be left scratching their heads at being 1.4s off the pace in 12th and 13th respectively. Hannes Soomers and Aiden Wagner completed the top 15.
Ant West makes a welcome return to the Supersport paddock after a sensational wildcard appearance in Australia last month. The Australian has been given permission to contest the rest of the season, though his budget at present only extends to this round and the next in Holland.
Unfortunately, much like in Phillip Island, FP1 didn’t quite go to plan for him. A technical problem with his YZF-R6 just over halfway through the session forced him to park up early, and this left him stranded in 23rd on the timesheets.
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