WorldSBK Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice Results (2)

Results from free practice two, round eight of the World Superbike Championship at Magny-Cours, France.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, French WorldSBK, 3 September 2021
Toprak Razgatlioglu, French WorldSBK, 3 September 2021
© Gold and Goose

World Superbike championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu dominates FP2 at Magny-Cours. 

WorldSBK Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice Results (2)
PosRiderNatTeamTime
1Toprak RazgatliogluTURPATA Yamaha1:37.138s
2Scott ReddingGBRAruba.It Ducati+0.208s
3Jonathan ReaGBRKawasaki Racing Team+0.288s
4Chaz DaviesGBRGoEleven Ducati+0.334s
5Leon HaslamGBRTeam HRC+0.407s
6Tom SykesGBRMotorrad BMW WorldSBK Team+0.469s
7Garrett GerloffUSAGRT Yamaha+0.497s
8Alex LowesGBRKawasaki Racing Team+0.530s
9Michael RinaldiITAAruba.It Ducati+0.633s
10Michael Van Der MarkNEDMotorrad BMW WorldSBK Team+0.670s
11Andrea LocatelliITAPATA Yamaha+0.688s
12Alvaro BautistaSPATeam HRC+0.704s
13Axel BassaniITAMotocorsa Ducati+1.096s
14Lucas MahiasFRAKawasaki Puccetti+1.230s
15Jonas FolgerGERBenovo BMW+1.781s
16Leandro MercadoARGMIE Honda Racing+1.908s
17Tito RabatSPABarni Ducati+2.060s
18Christophe PonssonFRAGil Yamaha+2.269s
19Isaac VinalesSPAOrelac Racing Kawasaki+2.393s
20Kohta NozaneJPNGRT Yamaha+2.646s
21Loris CressonBELPedercini 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.

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