Friday highlights – WorldSBK - Razgatlioglu set his fastest time of 1’37.511s in the morning session.
- He was one of the few riders who did not improve their time in FP2.
âI just enjoyed today, just a problem with the heat. Tomorrow it will be a little bit better but Sunday it could be hotter again. Anyway, itâs a very good start. The position isnât very important for me, we need a good lap time and a good way of working for the race. Iâm feeling ready to race but the races are always difficult here. We will see. We are fighting for the win and we need good points for the Championship. Iâm not thinking about this, just about winning the race.â
P2 â Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
- Rea finished Friday in second, 0.196s behind Razgatlioglu.
- His best time of 1’37.707s was set in FP2.
âI just enjoyed today, just a problem with the heat. Tomorrow it will be a little bit better but Sunday it could be hotter again. Anyway, itâs a very good start. The position isnât very important for me, we need a good lap time and a good way of working for the race. We are working and we see the other riders. Iâm feeling ready to race but the races are always difficult here. We will see. We are fighting for the win and we need good points for the Championship. Iâm not thinking about this, just about winning the race. It was a solid day. We started off with a good rhythm straight away. We got to work quite quickly to understand our bike setup, the tyres and we did a lot of laps with not too many changes with the bike. Tonight, I expect to put everything together with the team to try and make a step forward with the setup. All in all, I was really satisfied with the condition the track was in today. I understood both tyres, front and rear options, to make the choice clearer. The forecast tomorrow is for the temperature to be a bit lower than Sunday. We just need to make a step with the bike setup. Iâve got clever people in the garage and Iâm sure they can put their heads together.â
P3 â Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing â Ducati)
- The Championship leader posted a 1’37.986s to take third in the combined standings.
- He finished 0.475s behind Razgatlioglu.
âToday has been a very busy Friday for me, because three years ago on the Ducati, I didnât have really good reference. In the morning, we just made two long runs just to get the reference and to see the track conditions, because on this track, on Friday morning itâs always a bit dirty. Today it was really nice; the grip was really good, so we could be fast from the beginning. This afternoon, we did some big changes on the bike to see if we can improve something, because itâs been a long time since Iâve ridden here with Ducati. It didnât work as expected so we came back to our morning setup. Itâs been positive because we removed some tests from our mind and tomorrow, we can focus on tyre performance, improve some electronics and be more precise on the bike setup.â
P4 â Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
- Lowes finished fourth in FP2, leaving him fourth in the combined standings going into Saturday.
“Friday wasn’t too bad. Obviously, the temperatures this afternoon were really hard. I was working hard to choose between the different front tyre options. Obviously, we have two less options than in Europe, two options on the front, a softer and a harder one. So, there were a little bit of work on that. It’s always so hard when the track is so hot and the front tyre starts to move a little bit, but my pace was OK. I’d like to improve a little bit, especially after eight laps on the rear tyre. But we’re in the mix, we’re not too far away.”
P5 â Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)
- Locatelliâs FP1 best time of 1’38.082s allowed him to finish fifth in the combined results.
“It was an interesting day. We started the day in a positive way, so this is a good point. This morning was a bit easier, the feeling on the track was immediately great and this afternoon was really hot. We tried to find something in the hot conditions, but it was really difficult to ride. I think we understood many things to prepare the bike for tomorrow and to have more data for tomorrow. So, this was a good thing for us. I’m happy about today.”
P6 â Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing)
- Completing Fridayâs top six, Bassani was the best independent rider with a best time of 1’38.443s.
“It was a good Friday, but I don’t have a good feeling with the bike. In FP1 and FP2, we tried to understand the problem, but we couldn’t find a solution. I hope tomorrow to find a good setup. I have a lot of issues with the front of the bike, especially on the brakes. When try to go in the corner, the bike moves a lot. I don’t have the feeling to push 100%. But we’re good, we’re in the top five. We are fast and this is good, and I hope tomorrow to be able to fight for the podium because I like the track. ”Â
To note:
Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was the fastest Honda rider in seventh, whilst the lead BMW rider was Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was eighth.
WorldSBK action resumes on Saturday from 10:00 (Local Time) with the FP3 session, followed by Tissot Superpole at 12:10 and Race 1 at 15:00.
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1â37.511s
2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.196s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing â Ducati) +0.475s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.557s
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.571s
6. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +0.932s
