FLYING BRIT Jonathan Rea topped the timesheets at the end of the first day of testing for the WSB regulars at Portimao in Portugal.
The Ten Kate Honda man put in his best time of 1m 42.156 which was just 0.2s ahead of Ducati Xerox rider Michel Fabrizio who fired in a fastest of 1m 42.362.
But the biggest surprise was the early pace of newly crowned World Supersport Champion Cal Crutchlow who immediately stamped his intentions over the class he joins next year with a stunning third-best time of 1m 42.795 in his first time out on the Yamaha R1.
Crutchlow said of his first test: "It was a good enough day apart from a stupid crash this morning after about 30 laps, there seemed to be something wrong with my rear tyre which caused me to high side. I hit my head and have had a few headaches today but ok apart from that.
"The testing has gone well, we've done quite reasonable times, all credit to the guys who've worked really hard. We haven't changed much on the bike today, just tried to make it my bike a bit, tomorrow we'll do some more and see how we go."
Crutchlow's team mate, former GP man James Toseland said: "I'm feeling really positive, it's obviously my first time on the bike, it felt a bit alien after two years on a GP bike but the balance of the bike felt good and I'm really impressed with how the team's working, I've got an old friend of mine as a chief engineer.
"I've been really impressed to work with him today and Silvano Galbusera (Yamaha World Superbike Team Technical Co-ordinator) looking over him with his experience has been great. What's been nice is the changes we've been making have always been in a positive direction, so to say we've got down to more or less race pace on a brand new track and a brand new bike is good, I'm pretty pleased with it."
Max Neukirchner had his first taste of the Honda in the Ten Kate Honda pit, and was quick after his recent recovery from injury. Leon Haslam was also fast on his first Suzuki ride although times were not released.
Tom Sykes rode a Kawasaki Superbike for the Paul Bird Motorsport Kawasaki team still carrying the injured shoulder he suffered after a huge crash during practice at Portimao for the final round.
Fast Frenchman Regis Laconi was back out in action for nearly a year alongside Javier Fores with both riders trying out their DFX Ducatis.
Portimao test times:
Jonathan Rea (Honda) 1'42.156
Michel Fabrizio (Ducati) 1'42.362
Cal Crutchlow (Yamaha) 1'42.795
Noriyuki Haga (Ducati) 1'43.098
Leon Haslam (Suzuki) 1'43.300
Max Biaggi (Aprilia) 1'43.400
James Toseland (Yamaha) 1'43.700
Max Neukirchner (Honda) 1'43.810
Leon Camier (Aprilia) 1'43.900
Joan Lascorz (Kawasaki) 1'43.902
Carlos Checa (Ducati) 1'43.951
Javier Fores (Ducati) 1'44.413
Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) 1'45.500
Regis Laconi (Ducati) 1'46.458
