Damp and drizzly Valencia was the backdrop for the intermediate class’ first practice session and much like their colleagues before them, they kept things uneventful until the closing stages got some gravel trap action. After a few less than stellar performances, Tom Luthi seemed to be enjoying his time in the limelight and took over the top of the timesheets halfway through the session. Despite a harmless crash at turn 6 with 15 minutes left, the Swiss rider kept top spot by a tenth of a second ahead of a persistently impressive Hector Garzo. Aron Canet was back in action after his little finger required some medical attention and the Spaniard returned straight to the top three positions and as the final rider within half a second of the leader in the tricky conditions.

Hafizh Syahrin was somewhat predictably the early leader of FP1 but dropped back to fourth and finished the session limping away from a high side at turn 14. Marco Bezzecchi joined the top five, ahead of championship leader Sam Lowes and Nicolo Bulega. Enea Bastianini avoided any crashes with a couple of saves at turn 14 and finished the morning 8th, with compatriots Simone Corsi and Lorenzo Baldassarri rounding out the top ten.

Luca Marini’s struggles seemed to continue in the difficult conditions at the Ricardo Tormo circuit and after a slow start he finished last on the timesheets and nearly four seconds down on Luthi. Meanwhile, Jake Dixon sat out the session with a stomach ache and is expected to join the action in FP2.

Results: