SBK | Motul Dutch Round, FP1: Rea gets the weekend off to a great start

The fourth round of the production-derived World Championship began at the TT Circuit in Assen: on the track where he has been undefeated for the last three years, Jonathan Rea immediately made things clear, setting the best time, an excellent 1'35″ 662.

The only one to limit the deficit, 269 thousandths, is the local idol Michael van der Mark who brings the Yamaha to second place ahead of the Paniglae of Xavi Fores' Team Barni, however stopped almost seven tenths from the top.

On a track where speed matters relatively little, Kawasaki may not suffer as on other occasions from the limitation of engine revs imposed by the regulation: the gap with Dicati is in fact already notable if we look at the fifth place of Chaz Davies at 816 thousandths and the eighth by Marco Melandri at almost a second.

Returning to this first top ten of the weekend, in fourth position we find Tom Sykes more than seven tenths behind his teammate: after the first subpar outings of the season, the Assen appointment is already decisive for the KRT driver, from inside or outside the title fight.
Big surprise in sixth place with Loris Baz, immediately behind Chaz Davies, who with the BMW keeps Alex Lowes' R1 and Melandri's official Panigale behind.

Jordi Torres with MV Agusta and the young rookie Michael Rinaldi of Team Junior Aruba Racing complete the top team.
The Aprilias did poorly with Lorenzo Savadori 12th, a second and a half behind Rea, and Davide Giugliano even 17th, over two seconds behind, while the only Honda rider for this weekend, Jack Gagne, was 13th.

The drivers will return to the track at 12 for the second free practice session.