The first free practice of the new eni FIM World Superbike season was headed by Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) who maintained his number one position from the tests and goes into this afternoon’s FP2 with a margin of 0.359s over WorldSBK rookie Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils).

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) finished the session in 3^rd just ahead of Aprilia’s Leon Haslam, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), Nico Terol (Althea Racing), Chaz Davies (Aruba Ducati SBK) and last year’s EVO winner David Salom (Team Pedercini).

Exactly one second covered the top 8.

Reigning World Champion Sylvain Guintoli (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) could only manage 13^th, just behind his new team mate Michael van der Mark, the reigning World Supersport Champion who was 12th.

Triple champ Troy Bayliss (Aruba Ducati SBK) eased himself into the weekend posting the 18^th best time, 3.205s behind Lowes, while Italian Niccolò Canepa suffered a small problem with his Team Hero EBR machine which prevented him from completing a lap.