WorldSBK Misano: Pata Yamaha locks out FP1

Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu kicked the Misano weekend off at the top of the WorldSBK times with a 1’34.603 pace in Friday’s FP1.

Teammate Andrea Locatelli joined the party to lockout the standings as the Italian showcased his pace on home soil with KRT’s Jonathan Rea completing the top three.

Electrical storms on Wednesday night and a full day of torrential rain on Thursday meant a very green track greeted the paddock as the WorldSBK action fired up on Friday morning. Garret Gerloff and Philipp Oettl were passed fit and back in action for GRT Yamaha and GoEleven respectively after their Estoril falls with Ilya Mikhalchik returning to sub for BMW Motorrad after Michael van der Mark suffered a second injury.

Leon Haslam’s expected Pedercini wildcard was put on hold as the Kawasaki rider concentrates his efforts on the Suzuki 8-hour call up with Alessandro Delbianco standing in on home soil for the Italian race.

Rea set the initial pace as free practice began with a 1’35.489 - two seconds adrift of the overall lap record - before he worked to refine his time. Razgatlioglu and Aruba.it Ducati’s Michael Rinaldi the closest challengers in the opening minutes before the reigning champion and his title rival continued to better as the first inside the 1’34 bracket.

Alvaro Bautista began Ducati’s home race from fourth in the times after two minutes on track. Oettl trailed by a duo of Honda’s in the battle for the top five with Axel Bassani, Locatelli and Gerloff completing the fastest ten with the second KRT of Alex Lowes narrowly adrift.

Scott Redding was yet to set a time after the first quarter of an hour after suffering an electronics issue before heading out with 28 minutes to go. Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty