Kenan Sofuoglu ended the first practice session ahead of the sixth round of the 2017 World Supersport season at Donington Park top of the pile.
The three-times Donington race winner comes into this round with the aim of further cutting his 35-point deficit in the championship standings, after he became the first repeat winner of 2017 two weeks ago at Imola.
The Pucetti Kawasaki rider hit the top of the timsheets early on, but top spot changed hands on a number of occasions throughout the hour-long session. A late effort of 1m31.193s put Sofuoglu back in command, and he remained unchallenged to the chequered flag.
0.244 seconds adrift of the Turkish rider was MV Agusta’s PJ Jacobsen, who comes to Donington still seeking his first win of the year. Completing the top three was championship leader Lucas Mahias, who was just one hundredth of a second behind American Jacobsen.
Home favourite Kyle Smith held top spot briefly in FP1, but his 1m31.747s was only good enough for fourth. A couple of tenths further back came British Supersport Championship rider Joe Francis, who is making a wildcard appearance at Donington this weekend.
Jules Cluzel headed Ant West, the Australian enjoying a far smoother start to his weekend than he has done so far this season. Kallio Racing’s Sheridan Morais ended the morning eighth quickest, with Jack Kennedy ninth as he continues his replacement duties at Profile Racing this weekend.
Niki Tuuli rounded out the top 10 on the second Kallio Racing Yamaha, with Christian Gamarino just outside in 11th on his Evan Bros Honda. The Italian headed Briton Luke Stapleford on the sister Profile Triumph, Hikari Okubo, Hannes Soomer and Gino Rea.
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