WorldSBK Indonesia FP2: Toprak Razgatlıoğlu leads as Rea flies up the order
Jonathan Rea has improved from a tough FP1 to finish just 0.174 behind Razgatlıoğlu.
Toprak Razgatlıoğlu eyes up the WorldSBK title which he could wrap up in race one tomorrow however he has one man stood in his way, Jonathan Rea. The pair battled their way for the top spot throughout FP2 with the Turkish rider finishing on top leading the Irishman by 0.174 seconds, Razgatlıoğlu currently leads the points standings by a huge 30 points and needs to leave race one with an advantage of 37+ points, a victory with Rea in P3 would be enough to take home the title glory.
The lap times in the second session improved significantly with the top 12 riders covered by a mere 0.742 seconds, a vast improvement from this morning’s session where the top 10 were covered by 2.3 seconds. The track knowledge of the riders is improving with even Razgatlıoğlu improving by 0.7 seconds this afternoon making for an interesting upcoming race in the sweltering heat of Indonesia.
After struggling in FP1 due to an issue with his motorcycle Jonathan Rea was able to get out on track in FP2 and continue to learn the new circuit layout, he led Garrett Gerloff who looks to finally be ‘back’ after going missing for many rounds after some high profile collisions with riders such as Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu and Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Before he toned his riding down he was a consistent fighter for the podium and places in P3 today overall looking very promising for tomorrow.
Finishing up in fourth was Alvaro Bautista ahead of Scott Redding on the Ducati, the Spanish rider racing his last race for the Japanese factory before he returns to Ducati alongside Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Bautista’s teammate Leon Haslam occupying sixth place.
Alex Lowes returns from injury in seventh place, a solid start to the weekend only 0.528 seconds away from P1 with plenty more in the bag to strike for a podium finish in the upcoming races, he finished ahead of Andrea Locatelli and Michael van der Mark as Axel Bassani rounded out the top 10.
Full results –
