Scott Redding marked his return to Donington Park in style by topping the opening Bennetts British Superbike Championship free practice session with his final lap, narrowly edging out his Be Wiser Ducati team-mate Josh Brookes by just 0.023s on the National circuit.

The top 17 riders were covered by just 0.947s in the opening session with Redding marginally claiming the advantage from Brookes with Luke Mossey having a strong start to the weekend in third for OMG Racing Suzuki.

Keith Farmer fired the Tyco BMW into the top four in the closing moments of the session, pushing Peter Hickman into fifth on the Smiths Racing BMW. Championship leader Tarran Mackenzie recovered from a small crash at Craner Curves to end the session in sixth place.

Xavi Forés was seventh fastest for Honda Racing on his return to the Leicestershire circuit ahead of Josh Elliott with Christian Iddon and Dan Linfoot completing the top ten. Jason O'Halloran was nudged into eleventh ahead of the Buildbase Suzuki’s Luke Stapleford and Bradley Ray.