Source: Supplied.

Briton Chaz Davies has bolted out of the blocks with the fastest time in the opening practice session for round one of the 2017 Motul Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island.

Davies, who won the last six races in the 2016 WorldSBK title, set a best lap of 1m30.189s on his factory Ducati to complete the 60-minute session ahead of world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasak) and hard-charging Spaniard Xavi Fores (Ducati).

Fores and Rea also spent time at the top of the time-sheets in the session, but it was Davies who eventually came out on top, carving nearly a second off his best time in the final pre-season test at the grand prix circuit earlier this week.

Another three riders dipped into the 1m30s – world number two and 2016 Phillip Island pole-sitter Tom Sykes (Kawasaki), Marco Melandri (Ducati) and Yamaha’s Alex Lowes.

American Nicky Hayden showed a lot of improvement on the all-new Honda machine, with the top 10 completed by BMW teammates Markus Reiterberger and Jordi Torres, as well as Michael van der Mark (Yamaha).

Leon Camier was 11th, but had a scary moment earlier in the session when an oil leak on his MV Agusta nearly saw him cash at the ultra-fast Doohan Corner.

Aprilia’s Lorenzo Savadori also just survived a near high-side a turn 11, but continued circulating. Lorenzo’s team-mate Eugene Laverty, a two-time WorldSBK winner at Phillip Island, finished the session in 14th position.

Australia’s wildcard Josh Brookes posted a 1m32.143s for 16th, his Yamaha clearly struggling for top-speed down Gardner Straight compared to the opposition.

In World Supersport, test pace-setter PJ Jacobsen (MV Agusta) carried his strong form into the first practice session of the 2017 season, posting a 1m33.087s to head the field by over half a second.

Behind the American were Yamaha teammates Federico Caricasulo and Luca Mahias, with Roberto Rolfo (MV Agusta) and Alex Baldolini (MV Agusta) completing the top five. Top Australian was an impressive Aiden Wagner (Honda) in 10th, 1.5s from Jacobsen, while Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) was 21st and Anthony West (Yamaha) ended up 24th.