Toprak Razgatlioglu gets straight back to business in WorldSBK as he goes fastest in Free Practice One.

Nearly two months after the last World Superbike round at Assen the now 24 rider field are back out on track at Misano. Coming into this round Alvaro Bautista leads the way in the Championship standings, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega.

Razgatlioglu may be second in the standings but he is showing that he means business this morning as he was the only rider to set a lap time in the 1:33’s. The BMW rider has a serious chance of winning the WorldSBK title this year, but can he beat the Ducati’s at home?

Alex Lowes finished the opening session in second place. After not being able to match his pace from the opening round of the season, where he took two race wins, Lowes is back at the front. The British rider signed today with Bimota for 2025 and is ready to battle with Kawasaki until the end of 2024.

Bulega finished this morning in third place, but was obviously feeling the pressure at home. The young Italian has a lot on his shoulders so a few silly mistakes were creeping in. Another young Italian fighting at the front at home is Axel Bassani. The Kawasaki rider finished the morning in fourth place.

Andrea Iannone is back in action in Italy for the first time since his ban in 2019. The GoEleven rider admitted he has options for 2025 and a good result this weekend could get him a spot in a factory Superbike team.

Bautista may lead the Championship but had a reasonable start to action today as he finished this mornings session in sixth place. The two-time WorldSBK Champion is the third fastest Ducati rider and will have Razgatlioglu breathing down his neck all weekend.

Michael van der Mark may not have matched Razgatlioglu’s pace. However, a seventh place this morning for the Dutchman has put him in a good spot for this weekend.

Yamaha finally featured on the timing screen down in eighth and ninth. The top Yamaha rider was the struggling Jonathan Rea, he is still trying to get his 2024 season going. The second Yamaha was satellite rider, Remy Gardner.

Rounding out the top ten was the wildcard rider for Michelle Pirro. The experienced Ducati rider put all three Aruba.it Ducati riders inside the top ten as he finished tenth this morning.

There were four British riders outside the top ten this morning as Sam Lowes finished in 16th, Scott Redding was down in 20th, Tarran Mackenzie in 22nd and Bradley Ray in 23rd.