Aruba.it Ducati’s Davide Giugliano topped the timesheets in World Superbike first practice at Misano ahead of Honda’s Nicky Hayden after a late duel.
Giugliano had begun proceedings brightly, sitting top after the first couple of flying laps in Italy before Honda’s Michael Van Der Mark and Ducati team-mate Chaz Davies took over.
The two Aruba Ducatis enjoyed an early battle for supremacy, with Giugliano regaining top before Davies bit back, all the while lap times fell fast on the perfect conditions at Misano.
That allowed the likes of Xavi Fores on the Barni Ducati to get into the mix, along with a fine early effort from Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes.
With ten minutes gone, the dominant Kawasaki duo of Tom Sykes and Jonathan Rea had yet to post anything meaningful, both men a second off the pace but all was to change.
Sykes soon made his move, taking the ZX-10R into second behind Davies before zipping round the 4.226km circuit next time to take top as Rea also edged closer to the pace in fifth.
As the session wore on, much of the grid elected for some time in the pits to relay data and continue to work on setup.
When they re-emerged, it was Davies who regained the advantage but few challenged him until with ten minutes left Fores went top with a storming lap.
That saw Sykes battle back, though only good enough for second at the time he again upped the ante next time round moving into first place with under five minutes remaining.
It looked as though the Yorkshireman would give Kawsaki a perfect start to the Misano round until Giugliano, quiet since his early exertions, had other ideas.
The Aruba.it Ducati man was prolific as temperatures got higher and with Hayden chasing times down too it looked close.
In the end Giugliano came out on top, his 1’35.460 enough to get Ducati off to a flying start at their second home round of the season.
Behind Hayden came Sykes, Fores, Rea, Althea BMW’s Markus Reiterberger and Davies.
Lowes, Van Der Mark and Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori rounded out the top ten while Leon Camier and Josh Brookes had difficult mornings, 17th and 18th respectively.
