SBK, Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round, FP1: Rea stands out in morning practice

At the Autodromo International do Algarve in Portimao, Portugal, the tenth seasonal round of the production-derived World Championship began in the morning: the drivers took to the track for the first free practice session under a beautiful sun and practically summer temperatures.

The session was dominated by the usual Jonathan Rea who leads his teammate Sykes by almost four tenths and Leon Camier, in form this morning aboard the F4 MV Agusta, by about five tenths, preceding Chaz Davies on Ducati by just 30 thousandths.
On the other side of the Aruba garage, however, Marco Melandri suffered a problem at the beginning of the session: the man from Ravenna suddenly parked his Panigale, apparently turned off, on the gravel.
At the moment the Ducati technicians are working to understand the extent of the problem and give Melandri the opportunity to be in a position to fight for access to tomorrow's Tissot-Superpole 2, in the afternoon session.

Jonathan Rea inflicts considerable gaps on his opponents: Alex Lowes, who closes an all-English top five, is in fact more than eight tenths behind, which rises to over a second with Eugene Laverty, who also faces a track suited to his driving style.
Seventh time, at almost 1.5 seconds for Michael Van Der Mark with the other R1 Yamaha: the Dutch rider is fresh from the announcement that he will replace Valentino Rossi in the MotoGP at Aragon.
Closing out the top ten are Xavi Fores with the Panigale of Team Barni Racing, a Stefan Bradl who had a fairly positive test session: the climate is not the best in the Honda garage following the official resignation of the historic technical manager Pieter Braddels, due to the disappointing results of the new bike so far, currently replaced by Bastiaan Huisjes.
Lorenzo Savadori closes the top ten at one second and eight tenths.

Next appointment at 15pm, Italian time, with the second free practice session.

Below is the ranking of the times recorded at the end of FP1:
1. Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR 1m 43.170s
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR 1m 43.516s
3. Leon Camier GBR MV Agusta RC F4 RR 1m 43.729s
4. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R 1m 43.750s
5. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 1m 43.995s
6. Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 44.286s
7. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 44.552s
8. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati Panigale R 1m 44.608s
9. Stefan Bradl GER Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 44.834s
10. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 44.910s
11. Jordi Torres ESP Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 45.140s
13. Leandro Mercado ARG IodaRacing Aprilia RSV4 1m 45.211s
12. Roman Ramos ESP Team Go Eleven Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 45.361s
14. Ayrton Badovini ITA Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 45.518s
15. Raffaele De Rosa ITA Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 45.570s
16. Riccardo Russo ITA Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 45.669s
17. Ondrej Jezek CZE Grillini Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 46.484s
18. Anthony West AUS Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 46.915s
19. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R 1m 47.019s
20. Alessandro Andreozzi ITA Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 47.137s
21. Takumi Takahashi JPN Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 47.305s