World Superbike Championship leader Jonathan Rea set the pace in a tight first practice for the French round ahead of MV Agusta’s Leon Camier.
Kawasaki rider Rea comes into this weekend’s races at Magny-Cours with his first opportunity to wrap up the 2017 WorldSBK title, and made his intentions clear from the off with a benchmark of 1m38.589s.
That lap stood for some time, with Ducati’s Chaz Davies finally deposing the Northern Irishman with 26 minutes to go with a 1m38.377s.
However, Rea struck back immediately, going top once more with a 1m38.336s. The KRT rider soon found himself shuffled back down the order, though, as MV Agusta’s Camier registered a succession of quick laps.
The Briton edged ahead with a 1m38.265s, improving to a 1m38.203s on his third lap of the run before posting a 1m38.032s.
Camier looked to have top spot sewn up as the session drew to a close, but Rea had other ideas and crept ahead with a 1m37.849s on his final lap to go 0.183 seconds clear of the MV rider, who was unable to retaliate thanks to a late technical issue.
Milwaukee Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori slotted into third on the timesheets ahead of the Ducati duo of Marco Melandri and Davies, while Yamaha’s Alex Lowes headed team-mate Michael van der Mark in sixth spot.
Barni Racing Ducati’s Xavi Fores was just four tenths adrift of the factory Panigale-mounted pair and eight tenths from Rea in eighth ahead of Althea BMW’s Jordi Torres.
Tom Sykes completed the top 10 as he eased himself in having undergone surgery on a broken finger last week following his Portimao crash.
The Kawasaki rider managed a best effort of 1m38.853s, putting him just over a second off of the pace of his team-mate, and will undergo further medical review prior to this afternoon’s session to see if he is able to continue riding this weekend.
Honda has a revised line-up this weekend in the form of Jake Gagne and Davide Giugliano, as Stefan Bradl has been sidelined with injury and Takumi Takahashi has racing commitments in Japan.
Giugliano – who tested with Honda at Portimao following the races – was 16th fastest and 1.9s off the pace on his first appearance since Germany, while Gagne ended his first session at Magny-Cours down in 21st with a best lap of 1m41.341s.
Eugene Laverty was the only faller this morning, the Milwaukee Aprilia rider sliding off at the Nurburgring chicane 15 minutes into the session. He was able to rejoin to go 14th quickest.
