2013 WorldSBK Champion Tom Sykes put in the fastest lap of a difficult first practice session at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, continuing his impressive pace from preseason testing. Reigning Champion and Sykes’ key rival, teammate Jonathan Rea, did lead the times for part of the session, taking the honours from 2014 Champion Sylvain Guintoli.

Guintoli, who was fastest in the final preseason test session on Tuesday afternoon, was fastest out the blocks once the field were on the pace and stayed at the top for a lot of the session on a 1’31.779. Rain then descended on the circuit, first in Sector 4 and then over the whole track, meaning it was another 40 minutes before the times started to tumble.

Rea then went a tenth quicker, Guintoli soon returning the favour, before Yorkshireman Sykes finally set a 1’31.543 to top the session with only a few minutes remaining.

Notable laps came from several riders including MV Agusta rider Leon Camier, who put in a stunning lap of 1’31.650 to end the session in 4^th, and Markus Reiterberger, who was the fastest BMW by some margin although teammate Torres only did limited running after his crash in testing and minor surgery in Melbourne on Wednesday.

With the top three riders of the first session covered by less than a tenth of a second, the grid will be hoping for a full dry session this afternoon to further lower the lap times.