Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu drew first blood in the opening WorldSBK free practice at Motorland Aragon this morning but was chased hard by the satellite Ducati Panigale of Chaz Davies.
The young Turk put in a 1’49.952 with only a couple of minutes left to run which was only three-tenths off Jonathan Rea’s 2020 lap record while Davies finished on a 1’50.260 while texan Garrett Gerloff put his satellite GRT R1 in third.
Alex Lowes was the leading Kawasaki rider and had gone top of the session after around 15 minutes and stayed there right until the very end when he was usurped by Razgatlioglu, Davies and Gerloff.
Michal Rinald iwas fifth on his first outing for the factory Ducati outfit with a 1’50.741s, fending off the challenge from Tom Sykes on his new BMW M1000RR by around one tenth.
Last year’s series runner-up Scott Redding finished the session in 11th, just behind Team HRC’s Alvaro Bautista who recorded the highest top speed in the session. Bautista’s teammate Leon Haslam was eighth on a 1’50.907 after some mid-session handbags with Davies.
Michael van der Mark put his BMW in ninth while Tito Rabat’s first competitive session for the Barni Ducati team saw him classified in 12th place, the highest placed rookie finisher in FP1.
Jonas Folger was the quickest satellite BMW, finishing in 13th and ahead of rookie Yamaha man Kohta Nozane while Eugene Laverty finished in 15th place. Former WorldSSP king Lucas Mahias put his Puccetti Kawasaki in 20th.
Top ten top speeds
1 19 A. BAUTISTA Honda CBR1000 RR-R 318,6
2 1 J. REA Kawasaki ZX-10RR 314,0
3 60 M. VAN DER MARK BMW M 1000 RR 314,0
4 50 E. LAVERTY BMW M 1000 RR 313,0
5 91 L. HASLAM Honda CBR1000 RR-R 312,1
6 7 C. DAVIES Ducati Panigale V4 R 312,1
7 53 T. RABAT Ducati Panigale V4 R 310,3
8 31 G. GERLOFF Yamaha YZF R1 310,3
9 47 A. BASSANI Ducati Panigale V4 R 310,3
10 94 J. FOLGER BMW M 1000 RR 309,5
Fastest lap sequence
60 M. VAN DER MARK NED BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW M 1000 RR 1'52.048 163,119
1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'51.465 -0.583 163,973
22 A. LOWES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'50.995 -0.470 164,667
1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'50.834 -0.161 164,906
22 A. LOWES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'50.677 -0.157 165,140
22 A. LOWES GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1'50.498 -0.179 165,408
54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU TUR Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha YZF R1 1'49.952 -0.546 166,229
