Sbk, Toprak Razgatlioglu ahead of everyone
Superbike, the times
Autodrom Most welcomes the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship 2023 for the Acerbis Round of the Czech Republic. After FP1 in the wet, everyone’s attention turns to FP2, which is staged in totally dry conditions. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) signs the best time but 15 are included in less than a second.
With just over eight minutes to go in the session Toprak Razgatlioglu goes to the top of the leaderboard taking half a second off the previous chrono: the Turkish rider is the most successful on the Czech circuit. Two laps later he improves by another half a tenth and behind him we find his boxmate Andrea Locatelli, who will later finish in seventh position.
Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finishes just 12 thousandths from Razgatlioglu’s best time: so the Australian’s first weekend in Most gets off to a great start. Behind him is Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) on his debut in Most and just over a tenth behind the leader. Fifth place for Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) just back from an excellent weekend in Imola while in eighth place despite a crash is Gardner’s box mate Dominique Aegerter.
12 months ago Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won at Most thus giving Ducati its podium number 1000: now the Spaniard goes in the hunt for his 18th win of the season. That would be an all-time record. However, his weekend started uphill with the 17th time in FP1 and the sixth in FP2. Perhaps the world champion was held back by a technical problem. His teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi knows how important this weekend is for him in view of the future before the summer break. At the end of the day, the Romagnolo is fourth.
Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) at the end of this Friday is ninth after finishing leading FP1 in the wet. The British rider did better this afternoon than his boxmate, who was again on the ground in Turn 10: Michael van der Mark thus saw his afternoon session end prematurely. It promises to be a complicated Saturday for him.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Alex Lowes at Autodrom Most want to do well together with Kawasaki, which has never won at the Czech track. Lowes crashed in Turn 2, brought the bike back to the pits and returned to the track for the final minutes falling again, but this time in Turn 10 when there were three minutes to go. In the combined Rea is 10th ahead of Lowes.
Still a complicated Friday for Honda with Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) only 13th while Xavi Vierge at the end of the day is 16th. In Most for Honda there is work to be done.
Garrett Gerloff is 12th: this is his first time in Most with BMW. Loris Baz, whose future is still uncertain, has the 14th time ahead of Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) while Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) is 17th, with Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing MOVISIO), Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Isaac Viñales (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) behind him.
Hannes Soomer (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) despite a big highside in FP1 at the last corner pays two seconds and six tenths to Toprak. Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) victim of a technical problem in the pitlane, is 22nd. Eric Granado (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) crashed in turn 17: taken to the medical center, he was declared fit.
