WSBK Superbike Catalunya FP1: A nervous Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu at the controls

De Paolo Gozzi / Corsedimoto.com

Yamaha dominates the first Superbike tests in Montmeló. Jonathan Rea is in technical difficulty, with the fifth fastest time of the session. But the official Ducatis are even further away.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was the fastest in the first practice session of the sixth Superbike round in Montmeló, a new track on the WSBK World Championship calendar. Yamaha also stands out with Michael van der Mark, who is only 169 thousandths behind the talented Turk, and an increasingly convincing Garrett Gerloff: What a hat-trick for the YZF-R1! The start of the weekend was more complicated for Jonathan Rea, who went off the track at turn 1, without falling, and returned to the Kawasaki box slightly annoyed.

The World Champion made a blatant sign to the mechanics “ it does not work ! ». The work of the technical teams on his Kawasaki lasted around twenty minutes, and during the last session, Jonathan Rea returned to fifth position, with a good series of fast laps carried out on worn tires. Jonas Folger, who is making his Superbike debut with Yamaha, is 15th, 1'524 behind his teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Bautista threatening, Ducati back

At the start of the session, Álvaro Bautista was very fast, long in front with a Honda that could aspire to something better on this track than the third place that the Spaniard achieved in Aragón. The best Ducati of the moment is that of Michael Rinaldi, sixth, in the wake of Jonathan Rea, with whom he fought fiercely in race 2 at Motorland. Although he did not test on this track, the 24-year-old driver of the Go Eleven team precedes the two official drivers, Scott Redding, ninth, six tenths from the lead, and Chaz Davies, painfully eleventh. The Welshman will change teams next year, staying with Ducati: In 2021, his Panigale will be owned by Rinaldi.

Leandro Mercado, a strange fall

The Argentine driver lost control after just one lap, falling violently onto the asphalt. The circuit's medical center diagnosed him with a bruise on his right wrist, which will be more carefully examined in hospital. Mercado plans to return to the track to participate in FP2 which begins at 15 p.m. Recall that the Ducati Motocorsa rider missed the previous event in Teruel due to an ankle injury, following a clash with Tom Sykes the previous Sunday, on the same track in Aragón.

Test references

In mid-July, the official Superbike teams carried out two days of testing in Montmeló. These took place with summer weather conditions, therefore warmer than during this FP1 session. The fastest at the time was Jonathan Rea who, with a qualifying configuration, achieved a time of 1'40.450. Kawasaki also rode in Barcelona in January, for just one day, leaving its competitors to enjoy testing in Portimão.

What will the weather be?

The first test session took place with overcast skies and an air temperature of 23°C. For FP2, at 15 p.m. today, we are expecting 28°C, still with cloudy skies but little risk of rain. For tomorrow, Saturday September 19, thunderstorms are expected in the morning, which could affect the FP3 and Superpole sessions. In the afternoon, for race 1 which starts at 14:00 p.m., the sun is forecast with air at 28°C. Same conditions expected for Sunday. We remind you that race 2 is postponed to 15 p.m., to avoid concomitance with the Misano MotoGP.

At 15 p.m., we do it again.

FP1 ranking:

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Paul Gozzi