With the sun now shining after an early morning shower at the TT circuit Assen, it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) that set the benchmark, topping the times in the opening Free Practice ahead of Sunday’s two 21 lap races.

With times improving throughout the session, the ZX10R mounted rider eventually finished 0.503s ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who was 2^nd with Aragon race 2 winner Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) in 3^rd (0.983s).

On the other side of the Pata Honda garage a resurgent Sylvain Guintoli also looked much more at ease on his CBR1000RR SP in 5^th, lapping in an identical time to the current leader of the 2015 WorldSBK championship Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) who was classified 4^th, courtesy of having recorded his time first in the session.

Xavi Fores (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati Superbike Team) was once again strong in 6^th on his 2^nd ride replacing Davide Giugliano.

Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils riders Leon Haslam and Jordi Torres were 7^th and 10^th respectively with Haslam leaving it until the final 4 minutes to post his fastest lap.

Other notable performances during the session came from Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who impressed in 12^th and Niccolò Canepa who rode his Team Hero EBR 1190RX machine into a very credible 17^th, after running close to the top 10 in the early stages.

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki riders Randy de Puniet and Alex Lowes, who was on the podium here last year continue to adapt to the new electronics, and finished 11^th and 16^th respectively.

FP2 is scheduled to take place at 1500 local time, where with slightly better conditions predicted, lap times are expected to get even faster.