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The hostilities began this morning at Misano for the eighth round of the 2016 SBK season and the hot sun warmed the asphalt on the Romagnola track for the first free practice session dedicated to the factory derivative Top Class.
In the hour they had to work with, the riders familiarised themselves with the difficult turns on the track, with plenty of running long on the braking sections and all the protagonists alternated between brief outings on the track and long stops in the garage, looking for the ideal setup.
In the lead, it was Davide Giugliano who rode his Aruba Ducati quite effectively, proof that the tests at the beginning of the month were, at least for the moment, decidedly profitable and the Italian rider is off to a good start with plenty of motivation to do well during this long race weekend. The time Davide put on the sheets was 1’35”460, achieved on one of the 20 laps total that he took.
In second place, with a gap of just 175 thousandths, Nicky Hayden demonstrated that for him and his Honda CBR the tests on this track at the beginning of the month were also very useful. For Nicky, who put in 23 laps, the pace was good and the gap behind Giugliano is truly minimal.
Third place of the morning went to Tom Sykes, who, on his Kawasaki ZX10R, was just a bit farther back to the tune of two tenths in a total of 25 laps taken.
In fourth place, it was Spaniard, Xavi Fores and his private Ducati, ahead of Rea with the fifth best time and Markus Reiterberger, sixth astride his team Althea BMW.
In seventh, eighth and ninth place were Chaz Davies on this other official Aruba Ducati, Alex Lowes astride his Pata Yamaha R1 and Dutchman Michael Van Der Mark with the second Ten Kate Honda. Another Italian, Lorenzo Savadori had the tenth best time at not even a second behind Davide Giugliano, but he is determined to find the best setup for his Aprilia RSV4, and in fifteenth place, Niccolò Canepa also had a technical problem with his R1.
Photo: Costantino Di Domenico
