WorldSBK Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice Results (2)
World Superbike championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu dominates FP2 at Magny-Cours.
| WorldSBK Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice Results (2) | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha | 1:37.138s |
| 2 | Scott Redding | GBR | Aruba.It Ducati | +0.208s |
| 3 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | +0.288s |
| 4 | Chaz Davies | GBR | GoEleven Ducati | +0.334s |
| 5 | Leon Haslam | GBR | Team HRC | +0.407s |
| 6 | Tom Sykes | GBR | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +0.469s |
| 7 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha | +0.497s |
| 8 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | +0.530s |
| 9 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Ducati | +0.633s |
| 10 | Michael Van Der Mark | NED | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +0.670s |
| 11 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha | +0.688s |
| 12 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Team HRC | +0.704s |
| 13 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +1.096s |
| 14 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Kawasaki Puccetti | +1.230s |
| 15 | Jonas Folger | GER | Benovo BMW | +1.781s |
| 16 | Leandro Mercado | ARG | MIE Honda Racing | +1.908s |
| 17 | Tito Rabat | SPA | Barni Ducati | +2.060s |
| 18 | Christophe Ponsson | FRA | Gil Yamaha | +2.269s |
| 19 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +2.393s |
| 20 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha | +2.646s |
| 21 | Loris Cresson | BEL | Pedercini Kawasaki | +3.453s |
After a slight delay to FP2 because of track conditions being affected in the WorldSSP300 session, it was Chaz Davies who set the pace.
The GoEleven Ducati rider built on his impressive final ten minutes of FP1 in which he finished sixth, while Michael Van Der Mark did the same in third. Separating the Ducati and BMW riders early on was Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes.
The front three remained the same for over half the session before Razgatlioglu went to the top by just under two tenths.
Razgatlioglu's top time began a consistent run of laps that all would have been good enough for the top three, before further improving his time by 0.011s.
After Tom Sykes momentarily went second fastest, Davies then regained second with a lap just 0.014s slower than the Yamaha rider, while Scott Redding moved up to sixth - on spot behind Jonathan Rea.
Koha Nozane suffered a crash late on while Van Der Mark encountered a mechanical issue aboard his BMW M 1000 RR.
Razgatlioglu reinforced his advantage at the top once the time attacks started, while Rea went second - three tenths slower than his main title rival. Redding then split the pair with his final lap to finish second overall.
Free Practice One
Jonathan Rea topped the opening WorldSBK practice session at Magny-Cours ahead of Michael Van Der Mark and Alex Lowes.
While a mostly dry weekend at Magny-Cours has been forecasted, riders chose to stay in pit lane early on as overnight rain dampened the track surface.
Three of those riders included championship contenders Toprak Razgatlioglu, Rea and Scott Redding.
Kohta Nozane was one of the first to venture out alongside Barni Ducati rider Tito Rabat.
Short of running at the French circuit in recent seasons, Honda pairing Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam were others to test out the conditions.
After setting the fastest lap of the four runners, Bautista returned to pit lane along with Nozane, while team-mate Haslam and Rabat continued on.
It wasn’t until 20 minutes to go until that the action began to pick up courtesy of Andrea Locatelli. The Italian was soon followed by championship leader Razgatlioglu and Aruba.it Ducati duo Redding and Michael Rinaldi.
With under ten minutes to go every rider was out on track and setting personal best lap times through to the checkered flag.
Redding was the man at the top for most of it, before being bettered by Razgatlioglu, Lowes, Van Der Mark and Rea in the final minute.
