The first Free Practice session of World Superbike at Assen took place under an unusual sunny sky, but by contrast the name on top of the FP1 standings is not unusual at all: Jonathan Rea. The reigning World Superbike Champion was the fastest man on the track thanks to a lap in 1’35.662 performed in the final stages and he was almost four tenths faster than the lap in 1’36.013 with which he had took the lead halfway the 40 minutes of the session.
The only rider who managed to be not that far from Rea is home hero Michael van der Mark. The Pata Yamaha rider finished the session in 2nd place with a best laptime of 1’35.931 and was the only one having less than half a second off Rea. His best time allowed “Magic Michael” to top the standings in the final minutes of the session, but it lasted just a few seconds since Rea immediately turned everything back to “normal”.
Behind the leading duo, Xavi Forés ranked third with his Barni Racing Ducati, followed by Tom Sykes and Chaz Davies. Loris Baz, Alex Lowes, Marco Melandro, Jordi Torres and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.
To be noticed that the session was stopped with the red flag after seven minutes because of a little crash of Lorenzo Savadori at Turn 8, after that some gravel went on the track.
Photo Credit: Kawasaki Racing Team