Portimao WorldSBK lap record shattered during day-two of testing

WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista all went underneath the official Portimao lap record during day-two of testing.

As was the case on day-one, Rea set a blistering pace to start the day, becoming the first rider ever to set a sub 1m 40s lap. 

Rea’s time of 1:39.851s was just under four tenths clear of Razgatlioglu’s 2021 pole position time, a lap time that remains the official WorldSBK lap record.

Razgatlioglu then joined the Kawasaki rider in the 1m 39s just before lunch, however, the Turkish rider managed to go 0.082s faster with just over an hour of the test remaining. 

With Razgatlioglu continuing to work heavily on the Japanese manufacturer’s new electronics package during the morning, it meant he was one of the last riders to set a time attack run. The could-be MotoGP in 2023 challenged his own time on several occasions late on, before duly turning that into an even quicker time. 

Razgatlioglu set a stunning 1:39.616s which was just over two tenths quicker than Rea.  

While Razgatlioglu and Rea were unchallenged at the front, Alvaro Bautista managed to consolidate his P3 from Tuesday with another third place result. 

The Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider, who was just +0.132s off Rea’s day-one pace, set a 1:40.055s which was also good enough to better the official lap record by two tenths.  

Sixth on the opening day, Alex Lowes managed to jump up the order with P4 while also reducing the gap from the leaders. Lowes finished just over seven tenths away from Razgatlioglu’s fastest time.

Fifth was Andrea Locatelli who was the first rider within a second of his team-mate. The Italian is expected to push on and become a regular podium finisher in 2022, but for that to happen the former WorldSSP champion will need to narrow the margin between himself and Razgatlioglu. 

The second fastest Ducati was rookie Philipp Oettl, while Michael Rinaldi could only manage seventh quickest.