Jason O’Halloran got off to a flying start to round 7 of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship, topping both practice sessions on a scorching opening day at Thruxton.

O’Halloran set the bar high on the opening day of action as he flew to the top spot with a 1:15.380, placing himself 0.192 seconds clear at the top of the timesheet. Team-mate Tito Rabat was 23rd.

Fast from the off, O’Halloran sat comfortably at the top of the timesheets in the opening practice session before going quicker in the early part of a scorching practice two, which saw track temperatures rise to 34 degrees. Knocking seven-tenths of a second off his pace-setting time from the first session, the number 22 rider ended the opening day confidently atop the timesheets.

Tito Rabat endured a difficult day as he returns to Bennetts BSB action. Trying to extract the maximum from the R1 at its dominant hunting ground, the Spanish rider pushed to a 1:17.033, finishing 1.653 seconds adrift of his team-mate but remains confident there’s more to come.

Rabat’s time will see him go into qualifying one on Saturday with O’Halloran progressing straight into the Q2 shootout ahead of the 14 lap BikeSocial Sprint Race at 16.15.