Hannspree Ten Kate Honda’s Jonathan Rea led the opening morning practice at Silverstone as the World Superbike Championship resumed its calendar before the summer break in August. As expected, the heavy UK contingent in WSBK were quickly on the pace, although track operations were held up in the morning due to a loose section of turf on the run off area on the outside of Pits Straight being replaced with Astroturf. This forced the rescheduling of practice for the Superstock and Triumph ParkinGo classes to later in the day, while the Superbike practice went on as scheduled. Following Rea was Yamaha Sterilgarda’s James Toseland, with Alstare Suzuki’s Leon Haslam and Toseland’s teammate Cal Crutchlow right behind. Troy Corser was given medical clearance to race this weekend, having sufficiently recovered from the nasty qualifying crash (fortunately without serious injury) at the previous Brno round that forced him to miss both races; the BMW rider finished the session in fifth.
World Superbike Silverstone UK Friday free practice results:
1. Jonathan Rea (IRL) Honda 2:06.927
2. James Toseland (GBR) Yamaha 2:07.104
3. Leon Haslam (GBR) Suzuki 2:07.542
4. Cal Crutchlow (GBR) Yamaha 2:07.645
5. Troy Corser (AUS) BMW 2:07.689
6. Shane Byrne (GBR) Ducati 2:07.928
7. Carlos Checa (SPA) Ducati 2:08.018
8. Leon Camier (GBR) Aprilia 2:08.119
9. Tom Sykes (GBR) Kawasaki 2:08.259
10. Nori Haga (JPN) Ducati 2:08.314