With the sun now shining after an early morning shower at the TT circuit Assen, it was Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) that set the benchmark, topping the times in the opening Free Practice ahead of Sunday’s two 21 lap races.

With times improving throughout the session, the ZX10R mounted rider eventually finished 0.503s ahead of Michael van der Mark (Pata Honda World Superbike Team) who was 2nd with Aragon race 2 winner Chaz Davies (Aruba.it – Ducati Superbike Team) in 3rd (0.983s).

On the other side of the Pata Honda garage a resurgent Sylvain Guintoli also looked much more at ease on his CBR1000RR SP in 5th, lapping in an identical time to the current leader of the 2015 WorldSBK championship Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) who was classified 4th, courtesy of having recorded his time first in the session.

Xavi Fores (Aruba.it – Ducati Superbike Team) was once again strong in 6th on his 2nd ride replacing Davide Giugliano.

Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils riders Leon Haslam and Jordi Torres were 7th and 10th respectively with Haslam leaving it until the final 4 minutes to post his fastest lap.

Other notable performances during the session came from Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who impressed in 12th and Niccolo Canepa who rode his Team Hero EBR 1190RX machine into a very credible 17th, after running close to the top 10 in the early stages.

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki riders Randy de Puniet and Alex Lowes, who was on the podium here last year continue to adapt to the new electronics, and finished 11th and 16th respectively.

FP2 is scheduled to take place at 1500 local time, where with slightly better conditions predicted, lap times are expected to get even faster.