2022 World Superbike Aragon, Spain - Warm-up Results

Michael Rinaldi tops a tightly contested Aragon World Superbike Warm-up session from Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista. 

Ducati made a lightning start to morning warm-up as Rinaldi went four tenths clear of Jonathan Rea.

A 1;50.293s was Rinaldi’s benchmark time before Rea close to within a tenth of the Aruba.it Ducati rider.

• Rea and Bautista deliver Aragon classic, ‘I was smiling like a kid’ - Rea 
• 2022 World Superbike Aragon, Spain - Race (1) Results 
• 2022 World Superbike Aragon, Spain - Superpole Results

Third following his incredible race one battle with Rea, Bautista made it a factory Ducati 1-3. 

Rea then bettered Rinaldi’s time courtesy of a 1:50.074s - an impressive effort given the cooler conditions. 

More than a second off, reigning world champion Razgatlioglu returned to pit lane after a couple of laps, clearly not happy with how his R1 was performing. 

Looking to bounce back from his race one crash, Alex Lowes moved his Kawasaki machine into fifth behind the increasingly strong Iker Lecuona. 

Bautista reasserted Ducati’s position as top by going under a tenth quicker than Rea, however, Rinaldi came across the line with a first sub 1m 50s lap to unseed the Spaniard. 

Bautista managed to narrow his team-mates' lead down to +0.046s, while Razgatlioglu also got within a tenth of the Italian at the start of his second stint. 

After posting three red sectors, Razgatlioglu looked set to destroy the top time before losing three tenths in the final part of the lap., thus resulting in Rinaldi holding on by just +0.006s.

Official Aragon WorldSBK Records 

Fastest Lap - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 1m 48.267s. 

Most Wins - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki (9) 

2021 Aragon WorldSBK Race Winners 

Race 1 - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki

Race 2 - Scott Redding GBR Ducati 

World Superbike Race One Recap

Starting from pole for the first time in Aragon - fifth pole position of his career - Razgatlioglu held off Bautista who momentarily got down the inside of the reigning world champion. 

Bautista, who had clear visions of taking the lead early, was instead relegated to third as Rea came through at turn three.

Fastest over the weekend with regards to race pace, Rea quickly turned second into first after getting past Razgatlioglu at turn seven. 

Lap two and Razgatlioglu responded by regaining the lead at turn two, but unwilling to give his big rival any advantage, Rea produced a late-braking move heading into turn 12 to lead once more.

Seventh to begin race one, Iker Lecuona got a great start as he led the next group in fifth. But as the Honda rider struggled to keep pace with the leading quartet, Alex Lowes instead came through on the rookie. 

Lap five, and yes you guessed it, the lead changed again as Razgatlioglu muscled his way through on Rea at turn one. Bautista was keeping a close eye on the top two as team-mate Michael Rinaldi began to drop back.

Three abreast anyone… Bautista and Rea got a lovely run out of the final corner as the leading trio all attempted to lead into turn one. 

After initially getting the lead, Rea was demoted to second by Bautista at turn seven. All this resulted in Rinaldi closing back in. 

As Rea nearly ran off-track, team-mate Lowes was down in the gravel following a first crash of the season for the Brit. 

Keeping the same plan as the beginning of the race, Rea attempted to snap back at Bautista at every possible opportunity, however, the Ducati rider continued to hold strong out front. 

As he looked to clear off, Bautista had a big moment on the exit of turn 16 after nearly suffering a highside.

The mistake allowed Rea to close up before getting through at turn one. Bautista then lost further time after running wide in sector two, but after composing himself, the former MotoGP rider closed back in on Rea. 

Rea and Bautista exchanged the lead once again at turn 16, while Razgatlioglu was unable to get involved.

The top two began to break clear of the world champion with five laps to go as Razgatlioglu was seemingly struggling for front-end grip. 

Further down the field, Scott Redding was enduring a nightmare debut for BMW as he ran in 15th with five laps remaining. 

Back at the front, Bautista regained the lead along the back straight before Rea produced a favourite move of his at turn seven. 

A winner this time last year, Redding claimed one point in a disastrous debut. 

Redding, who started 16th, was dropped to P19 following a poor start, and although he eventually made his way into the points, that’s as far as his progress went. 

The former Ducati rider and series runner-up was last of the four BMW riders, which includes playing second best to stand-in rider Ilya Mychalchyk, who was eighth. 

It looks like the road to achieving success with BMW is going to be a long and hard one for Redding, who has lacked pace all weekend, not to mention all pre-season. 

The final position change looked to have come with three laps to go as Rea pushed on during the final two laps. 

However, Bautista responded on the final lap as he closed a six tenth lead down to four heading onto the back-straight. 

On said straight, and Bautista used his incredible top speed to get alongside the six-time world champion heading into turn 16. But not for the first time, Rea delivered a lovely switchback to come across the line first.

Sunday Schedule - 2022 Aragon WorldSBK

10:00am - WorldSBK Superpole Race (UK) 

13:00pm - WorldSBK Race 2 (UK)