Go Eleven Ducati’s Michael Rinaldi topped the opening WorldSBK free practice at Aragon this morning, edging reigning champion Jonathan Rea into second place by 0.001s.
Rinaldi, who is on a satellite V4R, had been holding runner-up spot with a 1’49.967 behind the Kawasaki man, but then hit a 1’49.840 to set the pace.
Rea was the only other rider to go under the 1’50s barrier with his 1’49.841 while his team-mate Alex Lowes was half a second off the pace in third on a 1’50.347.
BMW's Tom Sykes is already making up for the disaster that was Aragon #1, putting his S1000RR into fourth and two-tenths behind Lowes. Curiously, he is 12th on the top-speed chart at 191.75mph while team-mate Eugene Laverty is third at 195mph although this could be attributed to slip.
Yamaha's official team were next along with Toprak Razgatlioglu fending off Michael van der Mark for fifth as the Dutchman ended 0.925s down.
Chaz Davies, curiously only eighth on the top speed list at 193.4, was seventh and just ahead of Scott Redding, who will spend these opening two sessions trying to find the grip he didn't have last weekend. Redding put in a total of 20 laps in the first session and averaged a mid 1'51.
Leon Haslam was top Honda in ninth with team-mate Alvaro Bautista in tenth and 1.160s off the pace.
Loris Baz, Laverty, Xaxi Fores, Max Schieb and Marco Melandri completed the top 15 while it was a poor morning for GRT Yamaha with Garrett Gerloff in 16th and Federico Caricasulo in 18th.
Matteo Ferrari, who is deputising for the injured Tati Mercado, rode the V4R for his first time this morning and although stone last, was only 0.351s slower than Takuma Takahashi, which is fairly damning for the Moriwaki team.
Top ten top speeds
1 19 A. BAUTISTA Honda CBR1000RR-R 314,9
2 33 M. MELANDRI Ducati Panigale V4 R 313,0
3 50 E. LAVERTY BMW S1000 RR 312,1
4 91 L. HASLAM Honda CBR1000RR-R 309,5
5 22 A. LOWES Kawasaki ZX-10RR 309,5
6 31 G. GERLOFF Yamaha YZF R1 309,5
7 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU Yamaha YZF R1 309,5
8 7 C. DAVIES Ducati Panigale V4 R 309,5
9 21 M. RINALDI Ducati Panigale V4 R 306,8
10 60 M. VAN DER MARK Yamaha YZF R1 306,8
