The WorldSBK action at the Acerbis Dutch Round got started on Friday morning with Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) setting the FP1 pace with a 1’35.676 lap, putting him ahead of his teammate Jonathan Rea and Welshman Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) in the top three on the timesheet.

The KRT riders were split by +0.215s in the top two spots, with Sykes setting his best time towards the end of the morning practice. Davies was +0.301s off P1 as the riders pushed to register good times in cool conditions, with the threat of rain for FP2 later meaning the grid were keen to secure provisional automatic SP2 positions.

Dutchman Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) got his home round off to a solid start in fourth place, just over half a second down on Sykes, whilst Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) completed the top five.

Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), Alex De Angelis (Pedercini Racing SC-Project), Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) were all in the top ten.

Late in the session there were crashes for Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), at turns 12 and 11 respectively. Neither rider suffered any serious consequences, with Lowes ending up 11^th and Bradl 14^th.

Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) was affected by two technical problems, firstly early in the session and then again in the final minutes. He concluded the morning in 13th. To view the session again in full click here.

The WorldSBK riders will be back on track for FP2 at the Acerbis Dutch Round at 2.30pm local time.