Magny-Cours World Superbike FP2 results: Rinaldi puts Ducati on top, Gerloff P2

Results from Free Practice 2, round nine of the 2023 World Superbike championship at Magny-Cours, France.

08 Sep 2023

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Ducati WorldSBK Magny-Cours 2023

As track conditions ramped up for FP2, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the rider setting the pace as his first flying lap was within six tenths of his best effort from FP1.

Alex Lowes then jumped ahead of the Yamaha rider by over two tenths, while Jonathan Rea was third fastest aboard the second factory Kawasaki.

Looking set to overhaul Lowes at the top of the leaderboard, Bautista was up by two tenths halfway round his latest lap before encountering traffic.

Trying to latch onto the rear of Bautista, Xavi Vierge suffered a big highside coming out of turn three.

Razgatlioglu also had a moment at turn three after clipping the rass which sent dust onto the circuit. A red flag was deployed for the second time today, bringing the session to a stop with 35 minutes remaining.

After a slight delay, FP2 got back underway with Michael Ruben Rinaldi showing immediate speed in order to go second quickest.

As Razgatlioglu went fastest for the second time, Dominique Aegerter ran into problems as his Yamaha had smoke pouring from the rear.

Another red flag was then issued as a result of Aegerter’s mechanical problem.

Restarted for the third time, FP2 then saw another change at the top as Bautista went a tenth clear of title rival Razgatlioglu.

Rinaldi then made it a Ducati 1-2 after setting a time of 1:37.250s, however, Rea’s top time from the morning was yet to be beaten.

As lap times continued to improve, Ducati managed to maintain their advantage as Rinaldi jumped ahead of Bautista.

After claiming P2 in FP1, Garrett Gerloff then produced another great lap to split the two Ducati men.

As the checkered flag came out, Razgatlioglu and Redding made late improvements in order to move into third and fifth respectively.

2023 World Superbike Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice (2) Results
Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	ITA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	1:36.973s
2	Garrett Gerloff	USA	Bonovo Action BMW	+0.008s
3	Toprak Razgatlioglu	TUR	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+0.141s
4	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	+0.201s
5	Scott Redding	GBR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	+0.369s
6	Alex Lowes	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+0.383s
7	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+0.538s
8	Andrea Locatelli	ITA	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+0.570s
9	Remy Gardner	AUS	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+0.589s
10	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	Barni Spark Racing Team	+0.665s
11	Loris Baz	FRA	Bonovo Action BMW	+0.864s
12	Axel Bassani	ITA	Motocorsa Ducati	+1.007s
13	Philipp Oettl	GER	GoEleven Ducati	+1.324s
14	Michael Van Der Mark	NED	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	+1.393s
15	Iker Lecuona	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+1.421s
16	Dominique Aegerter	SWI	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+1.499s
17	Lorenzo Baldassarri	ITA	GMT94 Yamaha	+2.083s
18	Lucas Mahias	FRA	Puccetti Kawasaki	+2.125s
19	Bradley Ray	GBR	Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+2.395s
20	Xavi Vierge	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+2.652s
21	Hannes Soomer	EST	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+2.698s
22	Oliver Konig	CZE	Orelac Racing Kawasaki	+2.817s
23	Hafizh Syahrin	MAL	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+3.132s
24	Isaac Vinales	SPA	TPR by Vinales Racing	+3.322s