Yakhnich Yamaha’s Sam Lowes was pipped to the post in the opening World Supersport free practice session at a damp Silverstone this morning, by MAHI Racing’s Kenan Sofuoglu.

The Derby rider did top the timesheets on only his first lap with a 2’10.533, but rival and reigning champ Sofuoglu was never far behind, and did one better with a 2’09.926, going nearly a second faster than Lowes.

The Turkish rider was the only racer on track to lap in the 2’09’s, and even though the Brit attempted a last lap dash in the dying seconds of the session it was not enough to topple the Kawasaki man from the top spot this morning. Lowes did manage to improve his time to 2’10.018.

The session did start off dry but spots of rain started to fall in all sectors with fifteen minutes remaining but that did not deter the British contingent, most notably ParkinGO MV’s Christian Iddon and DMC-Lorenzini’s Kev Coghlan.

In the opening minutes, Scottish Coghlan was as high as fourth in the timesheets, but dropped back to seventh, and that is where he stayed when the chequered flag came out, with his best time of 2’11.865. Iddon had a solid session and even made it into the top five fastest times with his 2’11.610 lap, ending the morning four tenths of a second behind Kawasaki Intermoto rider Marino.

Rivamoto’s Jack Kennedy never made it out of the top twenty quickest times and ended the session in 22nd with a 2’13.665 lap. Wild card riders Smiths Triumph’s Glen Richards and Billy McConnell ended the opening free practice session in 21st and 25th respectively.

MAHI Racing’s Fabien Foret and Team Lorini rider Raffaele De Rosa rounded off the top ten.

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