Following a wet qualifying, conditions remained greasy at the start of the race and most riders, including Kawasaki duo Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes, opted to start on wets.

Fellow front-row starter Davies, however, picked the intermediate rear and, although he dropped outside of the top 10 on the opening lap, he recovered to win by a commanding margin of 9.8 seconds as the conditions improved.

The race kicked off with Sykes leading Rea, the duo first coming under pressure from the Hondas of Nicky Hayden and Michael van der Mark, then MV Agusta's Leon Camier.

Hayden and van der Mark soon came into the pits to change to slicks, but Hayden's bike slowed a couple of laps later and retired.

After being passed by Camier and Lorenzo Savadori (Ioda Aprilia), both Sykes and Rea went into the pits at the same time for slick tyres.

Camier and Savadori kept the top two positions up until Lap 16, but they couldn't defend from a charging Davies, who flew past the pair.

They also lost out to the slick-shod bikes of van der Mark, Sykes and Rea, the Dutchman narrowly keeping second on the line from Sykes.

Completing the race without a stop, Savadori salvaged fifth, ahead of French veteran Matthieu Lagrive (Pedercini Kawasaki) and Camier.

Xavi Fores, who was on the same strategy as Davies, took eighth on the Barni Ducati, ahead of local rider Sylvain Guintoli (Yamaha) and Alex de Angelis (Ioda Aprilia).