Bright sunshine brought warm temperatures and a track temperature of 37 degrees at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain. The legendary venue hosts the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round, where it was a Ducati on top after FP1 but not the one that had been anticipated. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was on mighty form at a circuit he always goes well at, bouncing back after disappointment in the Netherlands two weeks ago.

Leading the way for the majority of the session, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) responded from his Dutch doldrums at Assen with a fine morning in Montmelo. The Italian set a 1’41.633 and was sitting pretty on the top of the timesheets, and will aim to improve further, already just a second off of last year’s Superpole time. In second place and with new chassis items to try and conserve the front tyre more, and the #65 looked good in the warm morning temperatures, just 0.019s behind Rinaldi. Third place honours went to Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK), who charged up the order on his final stint to make it three manufacturers inside the top three. Pre-weekend favourite Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took fourth place but stayed in the pits for the final four minutes, heading out right at the end for a practice start. It’s always a strong round for Honda and Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was fifth in FP1.

Bumping himself up to sixth place in FP1, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was just ahead of Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who was top Independent rider in P7, ahead of the second factory Honda of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), who crashed at Turn 1 in the closing stages of the session, although he was able to remount. English duo Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten.

There was a small crash for Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) at the start of the session and he finished in P17. Top Independent rider in the Championship standings Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) was only 13^th. Ivo Lopes (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is replacing Michael van der Mark this weekend but didn’t get out to set a lap time with a mechanical problem.

Top six after WorldSBK FP1 below, full results here:

1. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’41.633s 

2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.019s

3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +0.086s

4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.146s

5. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.435s

6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +0.446s

Watch the Prosecco DOC Catalunya Round unfold in style with the WorldSBK VideoPass!