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Rea vs Razgatlioglu: half a tenth covers top two in FP3 as Yamaha fight back

Saturday, 2 October 2021 08:46 GMT

    • The six-time Champion ended the final practice session on top but was only just quicker than title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu

    The final practice session for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship had a familiar feel to it as Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed top spot in Free Practice 3 at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve just 0.046s clear of title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) ahead of the Motul Portuguese Round.

    Rea topped the timesheets with a 1’40.553s and put in a seven-lap stint towards the end of the session of quick and consistent lap times in the final session for race preparation, with the reigning Champion topping all three practice sessions in Portimao, his time in FP3 a 1’40.553s the fastest of the weekend so far. Razgatlioglu found more than a second between Friday and Saturday running and put in a late lap in the 30-minute FP3 session just 0.046s slower than Rea to finish second. Razgatlioglu’s teammate, Andrea Locatelli, was third after also finding more than a second after Friday but his session ended a few minutes early after a Turn 13 crash.

    Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) continued his fine Portimao form with four on Saturday morning, only 0.002s away from Locatelli, and making it three Yamaha runners in the top six. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Team) found plenty of time as he put in a late lap to go fifth, ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in sixth place.

    The impressive return to WorldSBK for Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) continued with seventh place, the second Ducati rider, three tenths clear of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in eighth place. The three Honda riders were led by Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) in ninth with Leon Haslam (Team HRC) and teammate Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top ten.

    The top six following WorldSBK practice sessions, full results here:

    1 Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’40.553s

    2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.046s

    3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.420s

    4. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.422s

    5. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.612s

    6. Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.660s

    Watch WorldSBK’s Tissot Superpole session from 11:10 Local Time (GMT+1) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!