The first round of the season has finally got underway, as World Superbike riders got on track for Free Practice 1. Michel Fabrizio (Red Devils Roma Aprilia) showed immediate speed and confirmed the good indications of early week's official testing by topping the timesheets of the 45 minutes session. The competitive 1'31.218 lap-time set onboard his RSV4 was 0.5 second faster than 2nd place Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike) and Leon Camier (FIXI Crescent Suzuki) in 3rd.
The last rider to get into the 1'31 bracket is Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team), fourth ahead of BMW Motorrad GoldBet SBK Team duo of Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Jonathan Rea (PATA Honda World Superbike).
An unfortunate session for Team Ducati Alstare as both Carlos Checa (9th) and Ayrton Badovini (18th) crashed between a matter of a seconds at different parts of the circuit. The 2011 World Superbike Champion had an high-side at Turn 5, while the former BMW rider fell off his 1199 Panigale R at Swan Corner.
Source: http://www.worldsbk.com