Bautista leads Rea after trading top times

Full FP1 results from Thailand WorldSBK

Alvaro Bautista has edged out Jonathan Rea for top spot at the end of opening practice in Thailand which saw the pair trade best lap times throughout the 50-minute session.

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider notched up a 1m 33.089s to push the reigning World Superbike champion back to second place by just under two-tenths of a second. Top spot in FP1 was traded four times between the pair with Rea leading the early stages before an impressive long run followed by a fast single lap from Bautista gave him the headlines.

With Rea having to settle for second place on the Kawasaki, Michael van der Mark acted as closest challenger to the top two on the Pata Yamaha but over six-tenths of a second back from Rea in third place.

Marco Melandri slotted his GRT Yamaha into fourth place at the end of FP1 ahead of Tom Sykes on the factory BMW to see Alex Lowes shuffled down to sixth place for Pata Yamaha.

Sandro Cortese ensured four Yamahas made the top seven by pushing out factory Ducati’s Chaz Davies and Team Go Eleven Ducati’s Eugene Laverty, as Leon Haslam refamiliarised himself with the Buriram track after four years away by completing the top 10 on the factory Kawasaki.