Rea still setting the pace

Jonathan Rea continues to be the fastest man on track in free practice at Brands Hatch despite not going any faster in this afternoon’s session than he had this morning.

Rea’s best time on the HM Plant Honda this afternoon was a 1:26.33, still two tenths quicker than closest rival Shane Byrne, but his confidence took a knock after a front-end slide and he lost his rhythm. His 1:26.28 this morning was the fastest time of the day.

Shakey made some chassis setting changes to his Stobart Honda to improve corner entry and has been able to lap six tenths quicker this afternoon.

Gregorio Lavilla is third quickest in the session on his Airwaves Ducati despite a crash at Sheene Curve. He lost the front in the dip on the way into the corner bust escaped unhurt.

Honda rider Leon Camier continues to impress, posting fourth quickest time in this afternoon’s session, and improving his lap time by half a second. 

Chris Walker is fifth quickest again and only four tenth of a second off the pace thanks to a package of small changes to the Rizla Suzuki since the Snetterton pre-season test two weeks ago.

Leon Haslam is sixth, hampered by some minor electrical glitches on his Ducati, including a quickshifter problem.

Rizla’s Cal Crutchlow is seventh despite some braking problems that saw him tailgate Tom Sykes braking for Hawthorne .

Tommy Hill is the fastest Yamaha rider in tenth while Virgin Media team-mate James Haydon is still getting to grips with the Pirellis and is 13th. 

Michael Rutter struggled to 16th place, restricted to seven laps on the MSS Discovery Kawasaki after a gearbox failure.