Nicolo Bulega posted the best lap time during World Superbike Free Practice Two (FP2) Friday afternoon at Misano World Circuit – Marco Simoncelli, in San Marino. On board his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, the rookie sensation lapped the 2.6-mile (4.2 km) track in 1:33.511 to top the field of 24 riders.
Bulega’s teammate Alvaro Bautista, the two-time and defending World Champion, was the best of the rest at 1:33.913.
GYTR GRT Yamaha’s Remy Gardner was third overall and the top Yamaha man at 1:33.921.
Andrea Iannone was fourth with a 1:33.960 on his Team GoEleven Ducati.
Toprak Razgatlioglu crashed his ROKiT BMW Motorrad M 1000 RR during FP2 and ended up fifth with a 1:34.221, but his 1:33.448 from Free Practice One stood up as the fastest lap time of the day.
American Garrett Gerloff finished FP2 ranked 21st with a 1:35.137 on his Bonovo Action BMW.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Razgatlioglu sets the pace at Misano despite a crash
Practice Highlights
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) lost the final 25 minutes of Free Practice following a Turn 16 crash. Despite that the Turkish rider set the pace (1’33.448) on the opening day at Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Alvaro Bautista were second and third fastest
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) continues momentum from his Dutch Round podium with the fourth fastest time (1’34.462)
Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK riders Axel Bassani and Alex Lowes inside top ten despite focusing on race simulations in Free Practice 2
Razgatlioglu, Lowes and Bassani were the only riders inside the Top 10 not to improve their times from Free Practice 1 to Free Practice 2
P1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
“Everything is okay. It was just a small crash and not a fast crash. I’m happy because the crash was before the race and I was able to understand something. For tomorrow I’m feeling strong and, in general, I’m very happy. We have a very good package for the race weekend and everything is going well.”
P2 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“During FP1 I didn’t feel very comfortable on the bike. I had some issues with how the bike was. For FP2 my team did a great job but we have to find something more for tomorrow. In the last part of braking into the corner it is a bit difficult to stop the bike. The rear is still pushing a little bit but we improved the bike a lot from FP1 to FP2. I can expect to improve even more for tomorrow. It’s important that I know this track very well even if I don’t know it with a Superbike.”
P3 | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“Today was a bit strange. We started the morning trying the new front tyre from Pirelli but I didn’t have the right feeling in the braking area. The bike was struggling to stop and to get into the corner. In the end we went back to our standard front tyre but in the afternoon we tried the new rear tyre. Unfortunately, I didn’t feel the same feedback that I had in the test. The bike was exactly the same, but my feeling was different. It was more difficult for me so I asked the team to make some changes to help me with that. For the last exit I had used tyres and I did my best lap time even with 15 laps old tyres. To do a 1m33 is good.”
