Razgatlioglu ties up final day of WorldSBK testing at Jerez

Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu secured the standings once again at Jerez as WorldSBK testing completed its second day.

As expected, Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea and Aruba.it Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista joined him in the top three, less than two tenths shy of the Turkish rider’s 1:38.269 best, with the pair’s teammates Michael Rinaldi and Alex Lowes locking out the fastest five.

Cool morning temperatures saw a delay to proceedings as day two at Jerez eventually fired up an hour later than planned on Thursday. Bautista was the man to beat in the early stages - on the bubble of 1’39 pace - with Razgatlioglu and Rea neatly behind, while teammate Rinaldi headed fellow Ducati man Danilo Petrucci in the top five.

Razgatlioglu recovered from an early and heavy turn 13 crash to better Bautista by just 0.028s on his second R1 as the morning developed. The 2022 Champion back in charge overall on his 50th lap of the day, a 1’38.540 setting the benchmark for the afternoon runs.

The second half of the top ten was filled with improvers as Pata Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli made his way to fifth, half a second adrift of his teammate’s current best, with Petrucci, KRT’s Lowes, Bonovo BMW’s Loris Baz, GRT’s Remy Gardner and Honda’s Iker Lecuona all narrowly behind with two hours to go.

As the clock clicked down the 2021 champ had returned to command with a 1’38.269 effort, Rea just 0.083s adrift with Bautista completing the top three, less than two tenths back. Rinaldi maintained his best of the rest position in fourth as the final rider under the 1’39 barrier on the second day with Lowes leading a Yamaha pairing of Locatelli and Dominique Aegerter from fifth. Petrucci, Lecuona and Gardner completed the top ten, with the rookie 1.2s off the