World Superbike Jerez, Spain - Free Practice Results (3)

Toprak Razgatlioglu topped the final Jerez WorldSBK practice ahead of Superpole qualifying. 

Lucas Mahias missed the session and has been ruled out for the remainder of the weekend due to a left wrist fracture impairment. 

Alex Lowes, who also has a wrist injury was back in action on day two at Jerez, although the Kawasaki rider’s running was limited after returning to pit lane following an installation lap. 

Rea was the leader early on before Michael Rinaldi went fastest overall midway through FP3. 

Rea quickly responded with a 1:40.146s - a tenth better than Rinaldi, while team-mate Lowes moved into third after following the six-time world champion. 

Scott Redding then went second behind Rea, while Rinaldi also improved to make it three riders with a tenth at the front. 

As the session approached the five minutes remaining mark, Andrea Locatelli set the second sub 1m 40s lap (Rea did so in FP2) of the weekend to go top. The Italian’s 1:39.774s put him close to four tenths quicker than Rea. 

What looked like a difficult FP3 for championship leader Razgatlioglu who was down in eighth for much of the running, then turned out to be a great one as the 24 year-old set a stunning 1:39.461s late on - 0.188s better than Rea who split the two Pata Yamaha men. 

Free Practice Two

Jonathan Rea dominated the second World Superbike free practice at Jerez to end day one fastest. 

Just like FP1, Rea immediately set the pace ahead of Team HRC riders Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista, while GRT Yamaha rider Kohta Nozane suffered a crash on just his first flying lap.

The Japanese rider wasn’t alone in crashing as fellow Yamaha riders Christophe Ponsson and wildcard rider Marvin Fritz also went down at turn one. 

With just under half the session gone, Michael Rinaldi reduced Rea’s advantage of two tenths to just +0.004s, before bettering the Kawasaki rider a few laps later.

Alvaro Bautista, who was fourth at the time and on course for a personal best late on, suffered a fast crash at turn 11. The Spaniard lost the front on what is the first of two right-handers.  

Rea then improved with just under five minutes to go and regained top spot courtesy of the first sub 1m 40s lap of the day - four tenths ahead of Rinaldi in second. 

Toprak Razgatlioglu finished the session seventh after being the only rider inside the top eight not to go quicker than this morning - finished second overall.  

Free Practice One

Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu finished the opening World Superbike practice at Jerez fastest from Michael Rinaldi. 

Jonathan Rea led the way early on before Alex Lowes then bettered his British team-mate. Razgatlioglu was less than a tenth behind the two Kawasaki riders in P3.

Lowes remained top until Rea regained top spot with 18 minutes left. However, Razgatlioglu soon improved on Rea’s time by a further three tenths. 

Winner of race two in Catalunya, Rinaldi jumped into third ahead of Lowes late on, before turning that into second. Rea finished P3 - +0.337 down on his title rival Razgatlioglu. 

Andrea Locatelli suffered an early crash at turn one after running through the gravel and losing the front end at slow speed. 

FIM World Endurance rider Marvin Fritz was back in WorldSBK action for the second time this year after making a wildcard appearance in Most, Czech Republic, while Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty replaced the injured Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes.