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Razgatlioglu storms clear in mixed bag WorldSBK FP1

Friday, 28 May 2021 10:28 GMT

    • The Turkish rider claimed two wins in the 2020 Estoril Round and continued his fine form at the Portuguese circuit with the fastest time in FP1

    Just a week after the season opened, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship headed to the Circuito Estoril for the Gaerne Estoril Round as Turkish star Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) stormed clear by almost six tenths to lay down the gauntlet in Free Practice 1.

    Razgatlioglu put in a late lap to post a 1’36.920s and top the timesheets, the only rider to dip into the 1’36s bracket in the opening session of the weekend. Championship leader Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was second, 0.581s behind, with teammate Alex Lowes continuing his strong start to the season with second.

    Race 2 winner at Aragon Scott Redding (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) was fourth fastest as he looks to close the gap to Rea at the top of the standings. Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) was the highest-placed BMW rider with fifth, and also made it four manufacturers in the top five in Free Practice 1. He was followed by Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven), who won at Estoril in 2020, and Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Action) as the two Independent BMW teams had a strong start to the weekend.

    Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was eighth, the American hoping to show the pace he showed here in 2020 as the weekend progresses, with Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) completing the tip ten.

    Alvaro Bautista’s (Team HRC) had an incident-packed session with two crashes; one at Turn 3 and one Turn 7 with the Spanish rider finishing in 12th place. Michael van der Mark’s (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) session was interrupted through technical issues with his machine; delaying the Dutchman’s first lap of the session before he returned to the pits after completing one out lap.

    The top six following WorldSBK FP1, full results here:

    1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) 1’36.920
    2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.581s
    3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.684
    4. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.704s
    5. Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) +0.933s
    6. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) +0.976s

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