Michael Rinaldi fastest for Ducati on day-one of WorldSBK Misano

Michael Rinaldi set the timing sheets alight during today’s FP2 as he finished two tenths clear of closest challenger Alex Lowes. 

Rinaldi completed multiple laps in the 1m 34s range, something most riders were unable to do once today. 

The 26 year-old was second fastest during FP1 behind Toprak Razgatlioglu, and after missing the opening 15 minutes of FP2 due to a clutch problem, Rinaldi quickly showed his pace by going fastest on just his second lap. 

Rinaldi wasn’t completely happy with his day, but said lap times came ‘quite easy’.

"Today we did a good job - not for the position; this morning I was second but not happy with the feeling of the bike,” added Rinaldi. 

"I was a little bit upset, but my team has done a great job to give me today a great bike and I feel really good also with the used tyre and the time came quite easily. 

"So I’m happy about that. For sure, we need to keep working because we are not 100%."

New for this weekend is the addition of a second qualifying tyre on top of the one already available. 

It means riders will have two cracks at qualifying and will be less affected by potential yellow flags or exceeding track limits during their opening run. 

Included in this is a new front tyre, but while Rinaldi thinks it ‘can be good’, unfamiliarity with Pirelli’s ‘A0508’ tyre means he’s unlikely to use it.

Rinaldi said: "Yeah I'm excited! When something is new the strategy is always different. I don’t know if some riders will choose to do one SCX and two qualifying tyre (runs), or everybody is waiting for a ‘help’ you know. 

"It looks like it’s good, but fortunately I never had a problem with the front tyre, so maybe it can be good for the future, but at the moment I don’t think I will use the tyre, just because I don’t know the tyre."