2022 World Superbike Estoril, Portugal - Free Practice Results (2)

Toprak Razgatlioglu showed devastating pace late on as he topped day-one of World Superbike action in Estoril. 

Following a relatively pedestrian FP1 by his standards, Jonathan Rea made an immediate impression in FP2 as he went under the 1m 37s barrier. 

Rea then improved again as he set a time of 1:36.715s which was just under two tenths away from Garrett Gerloff’s top time in FP1. 

Unable to close the gap below seven tenths from Rea, Razgatlioglu made an early return to pit lane in order to make changes to his R1. 

• Paul Denning wants Toprak Razgatlioglu WorldSBK stay; decision out of his hands 
• 2022 World Superbike Estoril, Portugal - Free Practice Results (1) 
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Rea was unchallenged until Aruba.it Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista went +0.155s down on the Kawasaki man with 15 minutes gone.

While it was Razgatlioglu who had the most consistent pace in FP1, Gerloff was proving to be just as good during FP2.

The American, who moved up from 11th to third shortly before the mid-session point, set several laps in the low 1m 37s. 

After improving his time at the beginning of stint #3, Rea was then replaced at the top by Razgatlioglu as the Turkish rider set the second best lap of the weekend to that point. 

That all changed on Razgatlioglu’s next lap as the reigning world champion went four tenths clear of Rea. 

Clearly at a track he enjoys, Razgatlioglu seemed to regain the feeling he had in FP1 as the Yamaha rider made a real statement of intent. 

Bautista managed to split Razgatlioglu and Rea after setting the fastest time in sector four. 

Bautista and Rea then scrapped over second place as they exchanged times on another four occasions, however, neither rider could get within a tenth of Razgatlioglu who was doing just that relative to his personal best time. 

In what looked like being a clean session regarding crashes, Philipp Oettl then suffered a big crash at the final corner to end FP2.

Estoril WorldSBK Records

Fastest Lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:35.876s (2021)

Race Lap Record - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 1:36.594s (2020) 

2021 Winners 

Race One - Scott Redding GBR Aruba.it Ducati 

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 

Race Two - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 

Gerloff sets the pace in opening WorldSBK Estoril practice 

Gerloff stunned Razgatlioglu late on to make it a Yamaha 1-2 in World Superbike FP1 at Estoril.

While Razgatlioglu led the way following the initial flurry of laps, Michael Van Der Mark suffered a nasty crash in the final sector. 

Van Der Mark, who remains less than 100% fit, was seen struggling to get back to his feet before a red flag was deployed. 

Update: Van Der Mark has been ruled out of the remainder of the WorldSBK Estoril round. 

Once on-track action recommenced, championship leader Alvaro Bautista wasted no time in jumping to the top of the times as he went six tenths clear of Razgatlioglu. 

Rea, Scott Redding and Alex Lowes split the two leaders, however, neither rider was able to get within three tenths of Bautista. 

That did change when GRT Yamaha rider Gerloff set a time of 1:37.770 - +0.120s off the Ducati rider’s time. 

While Gerloff was pushing the limits of Yamaha R1 on more than one occasion, Razgatlioglu regained top spot by just -0.034s. 

Following a strong test in Portimao, BMW continued to make strides forward as Redding cemented himself inside the top five. 

Winner of two World Superbike races at Estoril in 2020, Razgatlioglu continued to show impressive pace as he completed several laps quicker than Gerloff’s best P3 effort. 

Surprisingly off the pace, Rea’s third stint was one where the six-time world champion was lapping four tenths off Razgatlioglu.

To highlight how strong Razgatlioglu’s pace was, the Pata Yamaha rider was significantly ahead of Gerloff [third], Rea and Eugene Laverty despite losing time in sector three compared to all three riders.

After fitting Pirelli’s softer tyre, a compound that Razgatlioglu and Yamaha tend to use in the race, Razgatlioglu set a stunning time of 1:36.861s - six tenths clear of Bautista. 

The Ducati rider did manage to improve moments later, however, the former MotoGP rider remained half a second down on the reigning world champion. 

With Razgatlioglu’s time looking unbeatable, Gerloff found time in sectors two, three and four to not only challenge the Turkish rider, but instead move -0.227s clear of his fellow Yamaha rider. 

With that said, Razgatlioglu was the only rider consistently setting sub 1m 37s laps.  

After taking part in a private test earlier this week, Bonovo Action BMW rider Laverty has been passed fit to begin the weekend. Roberto Tamburini has not on the other hand and will be replaced at Motoxracing Yamaha by Endurance World Championship rider Marvin Fritz.

After Team Pedercini Kawasaki’s decision to split from Loris Cresson, Isaac Vinales is the team’s third rider in three rounds as he returns to WorldSBK this weekend. 

Estoril WorldSBK Weekend Schedule

Saturday 

09:00-09:30 - WorldSBK FP3 

11:10-11:25 - WorldSBK Superpole

14:00 WorldSBK Race 1 

Sunday 

09:00-09:15 WorldSBK Warm-up

11:00 WorldSBK Superpole Race 

14:00 WorldSBK Race 2