MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned as 23 machines took to the track for the opening Free Practice 1 session for the Prosecco DOC Aragon Round with Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) setting the fastest time of the session by just under two tenth at MotorLand Aragon.

Davies has a sensational record at Aragon, taking seven wins so far, and started the Round in the perfect way as he looks to add to that record. His time if 1’50.543 was less than a tenth ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) as the pair put Ducati machines 1-2 in the opening session, with reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished the session in third place; the top three separated by less than two tenths.

Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC), who claimed three victories at MotorLand Aragon in 2019, finished the session in fourth despite a crash with around 15 minutes to go in the session; the Spanish rider going down at Turn 1 but able to remount his bike and take back to the pit lane. Bautista later had a technical issue with two minutes to go, pulling off the circuit at Turn 1. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), recently confirmed at BMW for 2021, was another who had technical issues during the session, but he was able to return to the track to go fifth overall, ahead of Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha).

Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) was the fastest factory Yamaha rider, half a second off the pace, with the Dutchman just 0.03s faster than Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Leon Haslam (Team HRC) put his Honda in the top en as both finished in the top nine, while Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) rounded out the top ten with a late effort to move up the order.

Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was classified in 11^th place as the British rider looks to regain the Championship lead; having lost it following Rea’s triple win at Portimao. Another front runner, Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) finished in 13^th place with the Turkish rider finishing just behind Chilean Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura).

The top six following WorldSBK FP1, full results here:

1.) Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati)

2.) Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) +0.058

3.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.193

4.) Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) +0.222

5.) Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.383

6.) Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.436

You can watch more action from the Prosecco DOC Aragon Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!