Friday round up from Estoril WorldSBK | WorldSSP | WorldSSP300

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Three – Estoril

After his Assen DNF in Race Two, Toprak Razgatlioglu bounced back in style on Friday at Estoril. The reigning World Champion was pushing the limits as always and took top spot on the combined times after being second in the morning. A 1’36.290 meant that Toprak was uncatchable at the front as he came on strong later on in the session. With plenty of “new stuff” on Toprak’s bike, including some brake cooling ducts, the Turkish rider, who has never finished off the podium at Estoril, will be one of the favourites going into the first of two race days. Team-mate Andrea Locatelli was inside the top six in FP2, with him fourth in FP1, leaving him sixth on the combined.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P1

“I like this track, in 2020 we had two very good race wins, and now we come back again and I’m very happy to be riding again here because it’s one of my favourite tracks. We are working for a good setup for the race and now I’m happier with my bike compared to Assen. Also we try eight laps together with very good and constant lap times. I’m not trying for fastest lap, just ride my bike as good as possible and the feeling is very positive – so we are happy, a good start but also we need some improvements and we try for this tomorrow. Everybody is fast but we feel very strong and again, every race we will be fighting for the win.”

Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was third in the morning session and then second in the afternoon, the Spaniard was on fine form as he took to Estoril with Ducati for the first time. Brake ducts seemed to be the order of the day, with various teams and riders using them, including Bautista. After a disappointing morning, team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi elevated himself from 14th in the standings to the top five in FP2; when combined at the end of the day, Bautista was second and Rinaldi was fifth.

Alvaro Bautista – P2

“It was a very positive Friday. It was the first time for me with the Ducati Panigale V4 R on this track. As a result in FP1, we worked on the details to try to find the best feeling in the shortest time possible. We also worked well to understand what the best tire might be for tomorrow’s race. To be honest, though, I have to admit it won’t be an easy choice. In any case, the feeling is very good and we have great confidence.”

In terms of the Independent riders, Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was right in the mix as he stormed to top spot in FP1 before finishing third in FP2, leaving him third on the combined.

Garrett Gerloff – P3

“I’m feeling great at this circuit, I really enjoy the track. I think it’s good for the Yamaha R1 as well. In the afternoon we worked more on race pace with used tyres, looking to put everything together for this weekend. The lap time could have been closer in the end, but we were just focusing on being consistent. To see my name on the top in the morning was really nice. Now we’ll just keep working during FP3 and aim for a good qualifying.”

Gerloff took two podiums at Estoril in 2020 and was in the podium fight last year too, whilst next Independent was Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) in eighth, the top BMW rider throughout the course of the day. The Frenchman was just over a second adrift of Razgatlioglu at the top, whilst completing the top ten and also an Independent riders, Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing).

After struggling in the first session of the day, Kawasaki bounced back somewhat in the afternoon, with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) leading for most of the session. Having been just fifth in the morning session, Rea threw down the gauntlet right from the off and held top spot for the majority of the session, with changes to the bike from FP1 to FP2 whilst also using the SC0 rear tyre for most of the session on his way to third in FP2. However, it wasn’t all positive for Kawasaki as Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) struggled in the afternoon session. Lowes was using brake ducts for the first time in 2022 and reverted back to the morning setting of the bike for the final 10 minutes. On the combined times, Rea was fourth and Lowes 11th.

Jonathan Rea – P4

“This morning I didn’t feel so good with the bike set-up. We used the harder rear tyre to clean the track and understand things more exactly. The fact that this year we have one less tyre in our allocation means you have to strategically understand how to manage the tyres. So this morning the idea was to ride with the same rear tyre, clean the track, get the feeling and we managed to set the bike up quite well. In the afternoon I was fast straight away and felt good. We came in, made a pit-stop and tried something a little bit different with the bike. The set-up change was good in the heavy braking areas but in areas where I was trail braking, I missed a little bit. It was a good day of understanding the bike. I feel like our pace is right there, no more, no less, with Alvaro and Toprak. Tomorrow, we need to maximise the potential of a new tyre.”

It was a solid opening day of the weekend for Honda, as Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was up in seventh in FP2, ahead of team-mate Iker Lecuona, who was ninth in the same session. The results were mirrored on the combined times, with Vierge just under a tenth quicker than team-mate Lecuona, who is making his debut at the Circuito Estoril.

Xavi Vierge – P7

“I’m pleased with our first day here, starting with the fact that I’m able to ride without pain. I could focus on learning the track, improving my riding style and increasing my feeling the bike, trying to understand how to improve the setting. During the first two rounds, it was more a matter of trying to avoid feeling too much pain. I’m happy to discover a new track too and it’s one I’m really enjoying. It’s tight with some hard braking points but I really like it. From FP1 to FP2 the team was able to improve the set-up in all areas really, mainly focusing on finding better turning and on the bike’s stability in the braking areas, which is good in view of the races because it’s very easy to make mistakes at this track. Let’s see if tomorrow we are able to improve further, with one eye on the weather forecast”.

For BMW, the day got off to the worst possible start as Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed on the exit of Turn 10 and suffered a fracture of the right femur neck, ruling him out for the remainder of the weekend in what has been an injury-hit season so far for the Dutchman. Flying the factory BMW flag, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was just outside the top ten in 12th.

Estoril WorldSBK Friday Combined Practice Times

WorldSSP600

Reigning Champion Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) he topped the combined times by around half a second and was the only rider to lap the Portuguese circuit in the 1’39s bracket as he looks to continue his strong start to his title defence.

Aegerter’s stunning lap of 1’39.806s was faster than the race lap record set by Isaac Vinales in 2020 by around two tenths of a second, while it was also 0.555s clear of his nearest rival. It came in a 15-lap stint with 14 allowed laps that were all in the high 1’39s or low-to-mid 1’40s. Aegerter was around half-a-second clear from Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) with the Italian rookie posting a time of 1’40.361s; not improving his time in FP2.

Baldassarri finished 0.140s clear of Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in second place, who left it until the last five minutes to overhaul his team-mate Andy Verdoia.

Tom Edwards (Yart – Yamaha WorldSSP) was the leading Aussie in 19th despite crashing at Turn One in FP2, although he was not the only rider to be caught out by the right hander and the end of a heavy braking zone.

Countryman Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) was another who was caught out in FP2 on his first appearance of the year, finishing 25th in the combined classification. Oli Bayliss was P23.

Oli Bayliss – P23

“It was my first time at this circuit and I have to say that, overall, it wasn’t bad. We have a good pace over the race distance, but I couldn’t get a lap time to the maximum and that penalizes me in the timesheet. At Assen we managed to make a comeback, but we realised how important it is to have a good grid position. Tomorrow we will try to do a good Superpole to be competitive in the race.”

Estoril WorldSSP600 Friday Combined Practice Times

WorldSSP300

2017 Champion Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS racing) topped the timesheets after Friday’s two Free Practice sessions by just over a tenth of a second, while 21 riders were within one second of Garcia’s pace in the combined standings; proving how competitive this round of WorldSSP300 action will be in Portugal.

Garcia was just 0.146s clear of Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) in second place after Sabatucci improved his time in FP2, topping the second FP3 session. He was a tenth clear of German rider Dirk Geiger (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) in third place after the German posted a time of 1’51.695s.

Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) was fourth in the combined classification but missed out on a top three spot by just 0.042s after posting a 1’51.737s, finishing ahead of Iker Garcia Abella (Yamaha MS Racing) who was just 0.025s away from Steeman.

Young Aussie Harry Khouri (Team#109 Kawasaki) had a good start to his campaign with P14 on Friday.

Estoril WorldSSP300 Friday Combined Practice Times

2022 Estoril WorldSBK Schedule

2022 WorldSBK Calendar