Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies fended off a late charge from reigning World Superbike Champion Jonathan Rea to top the opening free practice session at Magny-Cours by just 0.040s from the Kawasaki man while Xavi Fores bagged third place.
Davies’ best of 1’38.262 is some two seconds off Tom Sykes’ outright record but the Panigale pilot went about his business with a total of 23 laps in the session - one more than Rea whose best of 1’38.302 was a little over three-tenths quicker than the Barni Ducati of Fores. The Welshman looked strong at the end of the session, putting in a run of six consecutive 1'38s laps while Rea managed four, but dotted around the session and Fores achieved the same.
Rea’s team-mate Sykes held the advantage with 15 minutes left to run, putting in a 1’38.824 to go quickest but his best lap of 1’38.718 was only enough for fourth and he is almost half a second off the leader. Alex Lowes, back but not 100 per cent fresh after suffering an ankle injury at Aragon, completes the top five with a 1’38.782.
MV Agusta’s Leon Camier ended in sixth place with a 1’38.956, just one one-thousandth of a second in front of Markus Reiterber on the Althea BMW. Hometown hero Sylvain Guintoli took the second Pata Yamaha to ninth ahead of Jordi Torres while a late burst from Nicky Hayden saw him climb to tenth. It was bad news for Honda team-mate Michael Van Der Mark who didn’t turn a wheel due to an engine problem.
Davide Giugliano didn’t fare anything like as well as his Ducati stablemates, ending in 11th place, one ahead of Lorenzo Savadori. Luca Scassa, Roman Ramos and wildcard Matthieu Lagrive completed the top ten. Josh Brookes began the session brightly hovering around the top ten but slipped back to 17th, one behind Milwaukee BMW team-mate Karel Abraham.
