While Johnny Rea clearly won in 1'23.440 during the first session, 0.5 ahead of Tom Sykes and 0.7 ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, Chaz Davies dominated with his Ducati in the afternoon in 1'23.387, 0.032 ahead of Rea and 0.263 ahead of his teammate Álvaro Bautista.
alex lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK) appreciated California: “ Laguna Seca is an iconic circuit, quite tight and technical, but a lot of fun to ride. It has many elevation changes, the biggest being the one you'll experience when descending the famous, ever-vibrating Corkscrew. The goal is to fight for the podium once again this weekend, to start the summer break on a good note ».
Leon Haslam believed that “ Laguna is the only circuit where I have never been on the podium. I've managed to get a podium at every current WorldSBK circuit except this one, so I'm looking forward to trying to rectify that ».
“This is my first objective of the weekend. The Kawasaki is going well there, but I think the Ducatis are perhaps stronger than they were at Donington – we'll see. The last time I ran here was in 2015 ».
According to Chaz Davies, who are " The last two races have been very difficult for me, especially last weekend at Donington, where I was still struggling to get the best feeling with the bike. So I'm happy to be in Laguna Seca before the summer vacation ».
“It's still a satisfying track for me where I've had a few wins in the past, so it's a good opportunity to try and improve our results before the break. We need it because we’re just not competitive enough at the moment.”
On the Kawasaki side, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) is currently sixth in the overall standings with 153 points and the best independent driver. He is 29 points ahead of his follower Marco Melandri. Razgatlioglu set the fastest lap of the second race when he led on the third lap. “ I wanted to win at Donington, explained the Turk, and I tried but Johnny was very strong. I followed him and in the last three laps I tried to pass again, but it was not possible. I'm happy with another podium after second place in the Superpole race. In the last three laps I tried a different line but it didn't change the result because I was still sliding but I took a second podium. Maybe next season, maybe in the next race, I will win? I don't know ».
Recent second at Donington, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was happy to have come to California: “ I am very happy to participate in the American WorldSBK tour. Obviously, continuing from previous races, it seems that the entire BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team is gaining ground. It's a shame that some things went wrong at the Donington round which deprived us of two more podiums, but we had pole position and a solid second place on the podium in the first race. We are now at Laguna Seca, a circuit with a good atmosphere and where I like to ride. This new BMW S 1000 RR really gives me motivation and I would definitely like to finish before the summer break with a very good weekend ».
FP2: Davies that we didn't expect
The first to improve his morning time was Eugene Laverty, followed shortly after by Markus Reiterberger. The news from the convalescents was therefore good, even if their times were well beyond tenth place.
Leon Haslam struck a big blow by moving into second position, 0.4 behind his teammate Jonathan Rea, still leading. Chaz Davies in turn progressed from seventh place to second, 0.396 behind Rea. Alvaro Bautista moved to sixth at 0.773, then fourth at 0.502.
Tom Sykes took second time, 0.357 behind Rea. There were therefore 4 Britons (Rea, Sykes, Davies and Haslam) in 0.4 ahead of Bautista fifth at 0.5. Bautista moved up to second place at 0.293 at the end of the session, then 5 minutes from the checkered flag Chaz Davies took second position with the other official Ducati, 0.015 behind Rea. Álvaro Bautista also launched into a fast loop but had to settle for third place at 0.265. The two Panigales made another attempt on the next lap wheel to wheel (Bautista in front) and Davies achieved the best performance in 1'23.387, 0.053 ahead of Rea who had kept his time from the morning.
Behind Davies and Rea, Bautista was third ahead of Sykes, Haslam, Baz and Razgatlioglu. The Yamahas were in poor form with the second R1 seventh with Lowes at 0.825, while Loris Baz was the brand's best representative at 0.538.
Combined classification of the first two free practice sessions:
Reference times:
Test record: 1'21.811 by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) in 2014
Lap record: 1'23.041 by Chaz Davies (Ducati) in 2018
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
Photos © worldsbk.com / Dorna, manufacturers and teams
