Mahias leads GRT Yamaha charge as Sofuoglu returns

Full World Supersport FP1 results from Imola here

Lucas Mahias has led an early GRT Yamaha domination in the first free practice session at Imola ahead of teammate Federico Caricasulo while five-time World Supersport champion Kenan Sofuoglu returns for his final bow.

Defending world champion Mahias heads up the opening times with a 1m 51.241s to take a two-tenths of a second advantage over teammate Caricasulo as the pair stretched ahead of the rest of the World Supersport field as nearest challenger Jules Cluzel on the NRT Yamaha was the only rider within touching distance of Mahias but almost half a second off.

Sofuoglu made a tentative start to his return as he prepares for his final World Supersport bow after confirming he will retire from racing after the Imola due to his ongoing injury woes. The Puccetti Kawasaki rider was able to notch up 16 laps but was down in 14^th place and almost two seconds off pace-setter Mahias.

Ayrton Badvoini continues to lead the MV Agusta charge in fourth place in FP1 ahead of Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing Yamaha) and Kyle Smith (Team Lorini Honda).

Luke Stapleford kept himself in top ten contention for Profile Racing Triumph in front of Randy Krummenacher (Bardahl Evans Bros Yamaha) as Hikari Okubo (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Raffelle De Rosa (MV Agusta) completed the front-runners.