After the wet weather misery of Wednesday, the sun beamed through from behind the clouds at the Jerez track in Andalusia, Spain. With times tumbling and no red flags to interrupt the on-track action, it was an intriguing morning of action which saw Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WORLDSBK OFFICIAL TEAM) lead the way, whilst Kawasaki, Honda and Ducati were all challenging in the Turk’s wake.

Top two pace on Wednesday carried on to the kinder conditions of Thursday for (PATA YAMAHA WORLDSBK OFFICIAL TEAM), with Michael van der Mark showing strongly at a track he loves. Still getting to grips with the 2020 Yamaha, the Dutchman was making good impressions as he continued acclimatising. Toprak Razgatlioglu was also showing strong for Yamaha and inside the top three for most of the session. Having suffered a crash on day one, the 23-year-old had some new settings to work with on the final day. Toprak hit the top as van der Mark was sixth.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) returned to action and utilised the drying track very well, placing second at lunch. Having become accustomed to a whole-new launch control system in the wet of Wednesday, Lowes wasn’t concerned about the lack of dry running and was quietly confident about moving to Phillip Island, should the race be tomorrow. Should the track dry further, then testing more launch control objects will be on the menu for Lowes’ side of the Spanish-run team. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) opted to remain in the garage for most of the session, venturing out 13:44 and immediately shooting up to fifth.

Top of the times in wet running on Wednesday, HRC Team duo Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista looked to continue their trend from day one. With a drying track and times improving by the lap, Haslam and Bautista were once again inside the top ten as they continued to dial-in their feelings with the new CBR1000RR-R. Haslam was third whilst Bautista was in 24^th and only did wet laps.

Former MotoGP™ podium finisher Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) was flying high at Jerez in third place, with the British rider making good use of the drying track. With no rain expected until 15:00, Redding completed 20 laps in the first three hours. Teammate Chaz Davies had a far less eventful day two at Jerez, having survived unscathed from his crash-fest on Wednesday. With work to do from 20^th, Davies will continue working through his schedule

Other Independent riders inside the top ten included Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) and fellow countryman Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team), who was eager to shine after a Turn 7 crash yesterday. Rinaldi hasn’t got many new things to try out but is eager to gel with his team and was tenth at the start of the afternoon, whilst Caricasulo was seventh, one place ahead of American teammate Garrett Gerloff.

BMW Motorrad WorldSBK were outside of the top ten but were yet to launch a serious attack in the drying conditions, whilst leading the WorldSSP charge was Steven Odendaal (EAB Ten Kate Racing).

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