Yakhnich Yamaha rider Sam Lowes topped the first Supersport free practice session in Phillip Island, but the session was not without its fair share of drama, with five red flags in total. The first came within the first five minutes of the session when Prorace Honda rider Gabor Talmacsi crashed and that set the mood as one red flag followed another.
Lowes set a 1'33.294, a full three-tenths faster than Kenan Sofuoglu on the Mahi Kawasaki, himself a second quicker than team-mate Fabien Foret with Pata Honda class rookie Michael Van Der Mark in fourth.
The British riders were well-placed throughout the practice, with Scottish Kawasaki DMC rider Kev Coghlan finishing the session in twelfth place. Irishman Jack Kennedy on his Rivamoto Honda machine came in fifteenth, with ParkinGo MV Agusta rider Christian Iddon coming over the line in eighteenth place.
