Championship leader Jonathan Rea kicked off the Italian World Superbike round with the fastest time of the opening practice session, the Kawasaki rider 0.256s clear of Ducati’s Chaz Davies.
The Northern Irishman has made a near perfect start to his 2017 campaign, Rea winning all but one race so far this season, and is keen to keep that momentum going at a circuit he has won four times at in the past.
Rea hit the top of the timesheets early in the hour long session, but the order changed on numerous occasions as FP1 wore on. Halfway through, Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes took over at the top of the pile by almost 0.5s with a 1m47.279s.
As FP1 reached its conclusion, several mistakes on quick laps stopped Sykes from improving and he was shuffled back to third by the chequered flag. Rea put in a blistering final lap of 1m47.023s to go fastest, with Davies slotting in behind on a 1m47.279s.
Marco Melandri steadily closed his gap to the leaders over the course of the session, the former 125cc race winner at Imola guiding his Panigale to a 1m47.360s to end FP1 fourth quickest and just 0.360s off the pace.
Despite a late fall at the Tamburello chicane, Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores completed the top five, with MV Agusta’s Leon Camier close behind in a respectable sixth spot.
Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark headed Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres in seventh, with Eugene Laverty and Nicky Hayden, who also crashed at the first corner, rounding out the top 10.
Alex Lowes was hoping to continue his top five form from Assen race two this weekend, but got proceedings off to a sluggish start down in 11th. Leandro Mercado, Roman Ramos, Stefan Bradl and Randy Krummenacher completed the top 15.
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