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Baz fastest in WorldSBK FP1 despite technical issue

Friday, 31 July 2020 09:35 GMT

    • Four manufacturers in the top four as WorldSBK track action gets underway at Jerez with Free Practice

    The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship 2020 season resumed under the heat at Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto as French rider Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) topped the opening Free Practice session of the Pirelli Spanish Round. Times were close with just half a second between the top 10, and four manufacturers separated by just two tenths of a second.

    Baz suffered a technical issue, coming to a stop at the right-hander of Turn 1, but it did not stop him topping the session ahead of reigning Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by 0.062s. Rea’s time of 1’40.311s was enough for second place as he held off the challenge from Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC). Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) finished the session in fourth ahead of Ducati teammate Chaz Davies.

    Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) was classified in sixth place, just ahead of his Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark. The Dutch rider was around four-hundredths of a second clear Leon Haslam (Team HRC), who beat Championship leader Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) by just 0.003s – Lowes’ time of 1’40.606s enough to put him in the top 10 of the session. American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) rounded out the top 10, less than a tenth behind Lowes.

    Marco Melandri’s (Barni Racing Team) return to WorldSBK action finished with him being classified in 12th place out of the 23 riders, just ahead of Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado (Motocorsa Racing). Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and teammate Eugene Laverty were 14th and 16th respectively while Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) was 21st after a crash at the Turn 6 hairpin.

    The top six from the first Free Practice session, full results available here:

    1.) Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) 1’40.249

    2.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.062

    3.) Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) +0.143

    4.) Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +0.193

    5.) Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +0.223

    6.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Test) +0.258

    You can follow more action throughout the Pirelli Spanish Round with the WorldSBK VideoPass!