🌟Day-one of the Catalunya WorldSBK test 💦got underway in similar fashion as that of Misano ten days ago, with GRT Yamaha rider Garrett Gerloff setting the fastest time. 

The Ameri🥀can, who has so far looked back to the type of form we saw in 2020 as a rookie, put a time ওof 1:41.918s on the board to lead at the halfway mark. 

Although Gerloff started and closed out the morning session fastest, there was plentꦆy of change in between as Alvaro Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea and Michael Rinaldi all spent time at the top of the leaderboard. 

Fresh off his 2022 GRT Yamaha team launch 🌺on Thursday, Gerloff was immediately on the pace, suggesting the Texan could be a favourite for the podium places during the opening fe🦄w rounds. 

Once the afternoon𒁏 action got underway, Aruba.it Ducati rider Bautista shot to the top of the times. 

Rea and Razgatlioglu joined him inside the top three, which was somewhat of a deja vu moment follow♑ing last month’s Portimao test which all three dominated - Razgat🗹lioglu was quickest that time around. 

Bautista spent the first couple of hours quickest before Gerlof💜f replaced the Spaniard at the top with a time𝔍 of 1:41.255s. 

Behind Gerloff and Bautista, world champion Razg🤡atlioglu managed to jump ahead of Rea by a tenth of a second. 

While Razgatlioglu and Rea had a mini batꦏtle for third, Bautista and Gerloff resumed their battle for top spot before 🍸Bautista went on to set the only sub 1m 41s lap of the day. 

A s🍌tunning time of 1:40.824s put the former MotoGP rider over four tenths clear of Gerloff,🅰 while seven tenths clear of Razgatlioglu. 

That lead then became two tenths as Rea completed several fast laps durꦉing the 🎃final few minutes.

It was a diff𓂃icult day for BMW as raw pace was severely lacking throughout. Quickest during the morning running was Loris Baz, who had to overcome an early technical issue aboard his M 1000 RR𓂃. 

Things weren’t much ꦡbetter for factory riꦜder Scott Redding, who himself was over a second off the top times. 

In what was the first pre-season test where most of the grid was in attendance, day-one in Catalunya served as the most representativ🐓e test day so far this sea🔯son. 

Last in the 2021 manufacturers’ standings, Honda’s rookie pairing showed good speed during the morn𝓀ing, however, the improved lap t🎃imes during the afternoon led to Xavi Vierge finishing close to nine tenths away, while Iker Lecuona was 1.3 seconds slower than Bautista. 

While Vierge was the top rookie overall, GoEleven Ducati rider Philipp Oettl was the top rookie from a satellite team 🦄poi💛nt of view.