Unofficial lap times from Portimao have put Sterilgarda Ducati's Shane Byrne at the top of the lap-times tree from testing at Portimao in Portugal.

Byrne lapped a tenth under Troy Bayliss' fastest race lap time of 1.43.7, which was six-tenths faster than Santander Yamaha's Ben Spies and more than a second quicker than his former British Superbike sparring partner Tom Sykes.

The former Airwaves Ducati man's time is a real testament to how well he works with the big V-twin but it is unclear whether he was running a 1098 F09 or F08, we suspect the latter.

Also, even though Byrne has run Pirelli tyres in British Superbikes, they are not the same spec on the world scene and he did not take part in any wildcards this year, so the rubber is new to him as well.
“I’m really happy with the times from this first test. The bike is so close the one on which I won the BSB title. So it was easy to get in the saddle of Sterilgarda’s bike especially because I felt immediately a member of the team. We put in a lot of hard work on this track, which is great by the way, and it's paid off already," said Byrne.
Stiggy Honda's Leon Haslam was seventh fastest with a 1'44.6 while Max Biaggi, on the new Aprila circulated in a 1'44.1.
Times: 1. Shane Byrne (Ducati) 1'43"6; 2. Ben Spies (Yamaha) 1'43"9; 3. Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'44"1; 4. Tom Sykes (Yamaha) 1'44"5; 5. Nakasuga (Yamaha) 1'44"5; 6. Alex Polita (Ducati) 1'44"6; 7. Leon Haslam (Honda) 1'44"6; 8. Roberto Rolfo (Honda) 1'45"0; 9. Regis Laconi (Honda) 1'45"4; 10. Lorenzo Lanzi (Honda) 1'46"3