World Superbikes 2019: Alvaro Bautista off to a flier at Aragon, champion Jonathan Rea third

Man of the moment Alvaro Bautista topped the times in free practice on day one at Motorland Aragon, with World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea third fastest.

Bautista has won the opening six races to stretch an advantage of 26 points at the top after the first two rounds on the Aruba.it Ducati V4-R.

The Spanish rider clocked his best lap on Friday in 1m 49.607s to lead Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes by half-a-second, with Northern Ireland star Rea only a further 0.023s back in third.

Tom Sykes put in a strong performance for the BMW Motorrad team in fourth, 0.6s down on Bautista, while Toome’s Eugene Laverty also had a fine day at Aragon, with the former championship runner-up slotting into fifth on the Team Go Eleven Ducati - 0.130s behind Sykes.

The top six was completed by Sandro Cortese on the GRT Yamaha, while Kawasaki’s Leon Haslam was seventh quickest on day one.

Chaz Davies, who has enjoyed plenty of success at Aragon in the past, was ninth fastest (Aruba.it Ducati), 1.3 seconds behind team-mate Bautista.