World Superbike San Juan, Argentina - Free Practice Results (2)

Toprak Razgatlioglu has completed a dominant Friday free practice clean-sweep at the Circuito San Juan Villicum, while Jonathan Rea managed only seven laps after a big turn six crash. 

With improved grip for the start of FP2, Alex Lowes wasted no time in setting the fastest lap of the day thus far. 

A 1:38.420s put Lowes a tenth quicker than Razgatlioglu’s top time from FP1. The championship leader was second quickest to the Kawasaki rider early on, while title rival Rea was third fastest. 

Razgatlioglu then bettered Lowes’s top time by just -0.023s, before a big mistake from Rea at turn six led to his Kawasaki ZX10-RR getting completely destroyed with more than 30 minutes left of FP2.

Razgatlioglu then lowered the benchmark even further by setting a 1:38.372s to go half a tenth quicker than Lowes. 

Fourth, fifth and sixth belonged to Ducati riders for much of the session as Scott Redding led Axel Bassani and Michael Rinaldi. 

Redding’s team-mate Rinaldi then moved up to fourth - a couple of tenths away from Rea who took no further part in FP2 due to his crash. 

As his second run continued to go on, Razgatlioglu continued getting quicker and quicker on used tyres. The Yamaha rider set three consecutive fastest laps, with the last one good enough to put him four tenths clear of Lowes. 

That margin then became nearly six tenths as Razgatlioglu set the first sub 1m 38s lap of the day. Redding produced a quick lap late on to split Razgatlioglu and the two Kawasaki riders. 

Free Practice One

Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu dominated the opening World Superbike free practice session at San Juan, Argentina. 

After a 35 minute delay due to local technical issues, WorldSBK FP1 got underway with championship leader Razgatlioglu first out of the pits. 

Several riders elected to stay in pit lane early on due to large amounts of sand and dust covering the track. Those included Kawasaki team-mates Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes. 

Razgatlioglu then returned to his Pata Yamaha garage without setting a flying lap, while Michael Van Der Mark began setting the pace ahead of Ducati riders Scott Redding and Michael Rinaldi. 

Redding, who is making his first ever appearance at the San Juan Villicum circuit then went half a second faster than his future team-mate Van Der Mark. 

Redding improved by another four tenths on his next effort to set a 1m 41s flat. With 15 minutes gone Razgatlioglu went P2, while title rival Jonathan Rea went tenth on his second flying lap. 

As track conditions continued to improve, Razgatlioglu set an impressive sub 1m 40s lap to go quickest by over five tenths. 

With half the session gone, Razgatlioglu’s advantage over Rea and Lowes was a stunning eight tenths of a second. That gap got as high as a full second before Rea closed it down to just under two tenths. 

Rea momentarily got ahead of Razgatlioglu with two minutes remaining, however, the 24 year-old’s penultimate effort moved the benchmark forward once again as he became the only rider to set a sub 1m 39s lap in the session - went over three tenths quicker than Rea in the process. 

Razgatlioglu then went even quicker on his final lap, a lap that put him half a second clear of his Kawasaki rival, before Redding jumped ahead of Rea late on for second. 

Chaz Davies made his return after missing the last two race weekends in Jerez and Portimao. The GoEleven Ducati rider was eighth fastest.