The Turkish driver responded to Jonathan Rea with the best time at the end of the second free practice session of the day, while Scott Redding was inserted between the two men in the standings.
The second free practice session of the day in the Superbike category began with a slight delay of five minutes, the result of precarious track conditions following the mechanical failure that occurred on Miguel Santiago Duarte's Yamaha a few moments earlier during FP2 of Supersport 300.
After this period, the drivers of the championship of motorcycles derived from the series were then able to return to service to continue their acclimatization to the Nivernais track, after a first session disputed this morning on a wet tarmac.
Summary of the results of the 2020 edition:
| WSBK Superbike Magny-Cours | October 2020 | September 2021 |
| FP1 | 1'49.356 Jonathan Rea | 1'38.402 Jonathan Rea |
| FP2 | 1'48.830 Garrett Gerloff | 1'37.138 Toprak Razgatlioglu |
| FP3 | 1'48.707 Loris Baz | |
| Super poles | 1'48.644 Eugene Laverty | |
| Race 1 | Rea, Baz, Lowes | |
| Warm up | 1'47.848 Michael Ruben Rinaldi | |
| Superpole race | Rea, Lowes, Van der Mark | |
| Race 2 | Redding, Baz, Davies | |
| All time lap record | 1'47.848 Michael Ruben Rinaldi |
On a now dry track and under bright sunshine, we did not have to wait long for the reference set by Jonathan Rea in the morning to be beaten. Chaz Davies, expected to join Honda next year, immediately drove almost a second faster, passing into the 1'37 window, and at the same time erasing the best time achieved during the previous edition by Michael Ruben Rinaldi by almost two tenths.
But other improvements were to be expected, as the Magny-Cours track smoothed out and thus offered a higher level of grip. Toprak Razgatlioglu took the opportunity to move into first place halfway through the session. The Turkish driver currently has a slight advantage over his championship rival Jonathan Rea, and has a good card to play this weekend in France knowing that it is a track that he particularly likes ( his first success in Superbike was won in 2019 in Nièvre, as well as his first successes in Superstock 600 in 2014 and in Superstock 1000 in 2016).
Ending the session in 1 wheel👌
1'37.138is the time to beat👊@toprak_tr54 #FRAWorldSBK ???????? pic.twitter.com/BNeifZ6ZY6
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) September 3, 2021
Redding acts as referee
Razgatlioglu thus managed to maintain first place until the checkered flag, responding to the best time set in the morning by Rea. The latter ultimately finished the session in third position, after letting Scott Redding move ahead of him in the standings during his last flying lap.
The three strong men of the championship are therefore indeed there at Magny-Cours, and are separated by less than three tenths of a second, which bodes well for an exciting rest of the weekend. Behind this hellish top 3, Davies took fourth place ahead of Leon Haslam. The latter is surrounded in the standings by the two drivers who threaten his handlebars for next year, Tom Sykes taking the sixth fastest time.
Ride onboard with the master of braking at Magny-Cours👌@toprak_tr54 #FRAWorldSBK ???????? pic.twitter.com/tB2VzGsYPZ
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) September 3, 2021
Garrett Gerloff finished in seventh position, ahead of Alex Lowes and Michael Ruben Rinaldi. One Michael follows another since Michael van der Mark for his part completes the top 10, far from his level displayed in the morning, when he set the second time in FP1.
Beyond the top 10, we find Andrea Locatelli followed by Álvaro Bautista and Axel Bassani, while Lucas Mahias finished in 14th place ahead of Jonas Folger. Christophe Ponsson, for his part, ranked in 18th place.
