WSBK Superbike Assen FP2: Álvaro Bautista makes Ducati fans dream.

De Paolo Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Álvaro Bautista propels Ducati to the top of the Friday timesheet, destroying the official record. But watch out for Toprak Razgatlioğlu in great form.

Whichever way you look at it, it's still the usual three who are in the game. In the final session on Friday, Alvaro Bautista propelled the Ducati Panigale to the top of the standings, shattering the official Assen record. But Soil Razgatlioğlu et Jonathan Rhea are on the lookout: the times on the eve of the race are relatively important, the difference will be made by the management of the settings and the tires during the 21 laps of a race 1 which promises to be sparkling. See you at 14 p.m. on Saturday!

Toprak does not improve
With 29°C on the asphalt, compared to 20°C in the morning, the second session was faster than the previous one. Among the three magnificent ones, the only one that hasn't improved is Soil Razgatlioğlu, who had previously posted a 1'34"466, while in FP2 he stopped at 1'34"785. The Turkish Yamaha rider, however, spent most of the session simulating the long race. The chronometric indications should therefore be taken with a pinch of salt. With the track hotter, Jonathan Rhea definitely increased its pace compared to the morning. But the impression is thatAlvaro Bautista may have a few thousandths of a second under the handle. We will see.

 

Who was the fastest of the three?
Toprak completed seventeen successive laps, the best being a 1'34″7 on the seventh lap. Remember, long runs consist of twenty-one runs. Alvaro Bautista did two mini-simulations, the second of nine laps, with a best time of 1'34″3, the best reference of all Friday. This means that with fresh tires (SCX?), the Spaniard is able to keep a great pace. Jonathan Rhea, stuck in fifth position in the morning, accumulated ten laps: the best was the seventh, in 1'34″6. The Cannibal has won here fifteen times, and, in 2021, he scored a decisive set.

 

 

Other people's Friday
Bautista, Rea and Razgatlioğlu have a different rhythm from the others, which has already been seen in Aragón. alex lowes, from Kawasaki, came very close to the end, probably on the SCQ tire, the super soft “extended qualification” tire. Iker Lecuona finished fifth in the general classification thanks to his morning time, while at Yamaha and Ducati, Garrett gerloff et Michael Rinaldi continue, in vain, the performances of the team leaders. A glimmer of light at BMW is the usual Loris Baz in eighth position, less than a second behind Bautista. On the other hand, Scott Redding (eleventh) was the victim of a fall: it was raining heavily, even though the sun was shining on Holland. By the way: the weather is stable until Sunday.

What a coup for Iker Lecuona!
In FP1, the Spaniard from Honda had set an excellent second time, behind the impregnable Soil Razgatlioğlu. However, during the first round of launching FP2, Iker Lecuona suffered a violent highside at the third turn, leaving him immobile on the ground. Race management showed the red flag, but the Fireblade driver recovered fairly quickly, before heading to the medical center on a scooter driven by the HRC team manager, Leon Camier. After a routine check, Iker returned to the track as usual.

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Classification credit: WorldSBK.com