Pata Yamaha Prometeon’s Toprak Razgatlioglu improved his lap time slightly in World Superbike Free Practice Two (FP2), just before a rain shower dampened the on-track action Friday afternoon at Donington Park, in England.
After posting a 1:27.679 in FP1, Razgatlioglu did a 1:27.639 in FP2, right before it started raining. As a result, only seven riders recorded timed laps during the session.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Rainy conditions challenge riders in Donington Park – Rea and Razgatlioglu lead the way on Day 1
On the first day of the Prosecco DOC UK Round at Donington Park, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) concluded the day as the fastest rider in mixed conditions, as he set the best time in the morning session before intermittent rain affected the proceedings in FP2.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK team) finished just 0.012 seconds off the fastest time with his best FP2 lap. Team GoEleven’s Philipp Oettl secured the third-fastest time, leading the Ducati riders.
British riders Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team)and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured fifth and sixth places respectively. Varying conditions and limited mileage meant that Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) finished only eighth in the day’s standings.
Jonathan Rea was fastest overall on day 1 but will be looking forward to getting more track time to prepare for Race 1.
P1 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK
“It was a strange day because this morning, even with mixed conditions, you don’t want to be the first guy to find out it’s slippery… So I was much more cautious, trying to pick my window on the track. I didn’t really do many very fast corner laps, but during the laps I did, the bike felt okay. I was working on the new asphalt, which has a lot of grip compared to last year. We understood some things, but we need to put all of this together for a long race. We would need much more time, and we’re running out of time, which means tomorrow morning’s FP3 is very important to make really good decisions for our race setup.”
Toprak Razgatlioglu has set the second fastest time of the day at Donington Park, just 0.012 seconds adrift of Jonathan Rea.
Philipp Oettl emerged as the fastest Ducati rider on Friday, finishing third ahead of Axel Bassani.
Alex Lowes secured the fifth overall position while Brad Ray finished sixth on Friday.
Bautista faced a demanding day at Donington Park, posting the eighth fastest time, 0.516s behind the pace-setting Rea.
