Wasting no time in asserting himself, six-time Wor💜ldSBK champion Jonathan Rea blasted to the top of the leaderboard by over 1.1 seconds from team-mate Alex Lowes.

Rea’s second flying lap extended that gap to 1.8 sওeconds before Scott Redding jumped up to second place - still 1.6s away from the KRT rid🎉er. 

As lap ti𒉰mes continued improving, Lowes regained🦹 second spot from Redding, however, Rea remained half a second clear of his team-mate. 

Rea, who hꦉas made a habit of starting sessions quickly in 2022, was proving tough to get to terms with while Andrea Locatelli suffered an early crash. 

Locatel🌃li’s team-mate Toprak Razgatlioglu was also beౠginning to find pace as he went third quickest aboard his Yamaha R1. 

Keen to impress at his home round, Lowes moved to within +0.148s of Rea as the British pair ⛦continued their early dominance for Kawasaki. 

Following Locatelli’♚s early off, MIE Honda rider Leandro Mercado then sufferꦑed a mechanical issue at turn seven. 

On track, there was visib൩le frustration for impressive WorldSBK rookie Iker Lecuona as the Spaniard found himself stuck behind GoEleven Ducati rider Philipp Oettl.

Still the only rider to ♑go underneath the 1m 28s barrier, Rea was continuing to hold off Lowes and Razgatlioglu, while championship leader Alvaro Bautista was fifth fastest🐬 behind Redding. 

A track that has proved extre𓄧mely difficult for Ducati - the Bologna-based manufacturer last won a race at the British circuit in 2011 - Bautista then moved his Panigale V4 R up to third place.&♉nbsp;

Making it three Ducatis inside the top ten were Michael Rinaldi and Philipp Oettl, however, both riders were close to a second down on Rea’s time, while half a second slꦰower than Bautista. 

Rinaldi, who like Bautista began to find more pac🔯e as the stint w♌ent on, moved up to fifth with just under 15 minutes remaining of FP1. 

A circuit he calls his ‘favourite’ on the Superbike calendar, Razgatlioglu’s hopes of becoming a winner again at Donꩲington Park appeared to be heading in the right directio﷽n.

The Turkish rider’s l𝄹ong run pace was proving to be a match for anyone, as was Bautista’s as he went 🌟within two tenths of Rea late on. 

Not to be outshon🌃e by Bautista, Rinaldi jumped up to second place with five minutes remaining, however, it was Razgatlioglu who proved to have the pace good enough to dislodge Rea from top spot.  A time of 1:27.805s was set by the reigning world champion 

Despite threatening to go even quicker, Razgatlioglu and Re♎a were unable to improve which led to the top three remaining unchanged through to the checkered flag.