SBK| Pirelli Spanish Round, FP1: Rea sets the pace in Jerez

First free practice session of the twelfth round of the season on the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, Spain: awaiting the riders, as hoped, was a decidedly summery climate with almost thirty degrees of air temperature.
Jonathan Rea does not relinquish the lead even when the game is over: the new three-time World Champion has in fact set the best time of the session in the last available laps, followed by Alex Lowes on Yamaha, six tenths of a second, and Marco Melandri on Ducati, far behind just two thousandths from English.

Fourth time for Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) ahead of the other Yamaha rider Michael van der Mark and Roman Ramos, fresh from his renewal with the Kawasaki Go Eleven team, one of this weekend's home riders.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team), Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) completed the top 10.

The 2014 world champion Sylvain Guintoli returned with the Kawasaki ZX-10RR of the Puccetti Racing team, setting the 13th time.

Takumi Takahashi (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) stopped in 19th position with the Honda CBR1000RR, while Davide Giugliano, his current teammate, was twentieth.
Finally, there was a crash for Raffaele de Rosa (Althea BMW Racing Team) who lost the front in the final minutes, but did not suffer any damage.

The action on the track will resume at 14pm with the second session, the last valid for the purposes of the first round of Tissot-Superpole.