WSBK Portimão J1 Tests: Toprak Razgatlioglu leads the way

In parallel with the British Grand Prix, the competitors of the World Superbike Championship met in Portimão in Portugal for a weekend of testing, in order to prepare for the world round which will take place there on September 7 and 8, and to start testing some pieces for next season. The Portimão circuit has extended its contract to organize a round of the WSBK world championship until 2022.

Were present this Saturday Jonathan Rhea and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) who was discovering the circuit, unlike his teammate Chaz Davies, Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Michael van der Mark and Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Marco Melandri and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha), Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing), Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team), Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing), Eugene Laverty (GoEleven Ducati), Jordi Torres (Pedercini Kawasaki), Leandro Mercado ( Orelac Racing VerdNatura), Sylvain Barrier (BRIXX Ducati) and the current leader of the All Japan Road Race Championship, Takumi Takahashi (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team) as well as Ryuichi Kiyonari.

21 drivers from the Supersport category were also hard at work, including the Bardahl Evan Bros. team. WorldSSP with Randy Krummenacher and Federico Caricasulo, as well as Jules cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha), winner of the last round.

Tom Sykes inaugurates bitumen

Unleashed in the morning, the official BMW English driver set the best time in 1'42.174 before crashing with his S 1000 RR during his fifteenth lap. The Briton was not injured, but shocked enough to end his morning tests in order to be able to return to the track after a little rest in the afternoon. Toprak Razgatlioglu replaced him at the top of the timing screens in 1'41.897. Álvaro Bautista (who was discovering the circuit) followed suit shortly after in 1'42.087, ahead of Tom Sykes, Alex Lowes and Johnny Rea.

At the end of the first session, Rea moved into second position behind Razgatlioglu, securing the double for Kawasaki, ahead of Bautista, Sykes and van der Mark. Baz was eleventh and Barrier was nineteenth.

Times achieved during the first Superbike session:

Reference times in Superbike:

Test record: 1'40.705 by Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) in 2018

Lap record: 1'42.304 by Johnny Rea (Kawasaki) in 2018

During the second and final WSBK session of the day – lasting two hours like the other three sessions – the drivers used most of the time to fine-tune their settings and carry out endurance tests for the tires . The morning times therefore remained preeminent.

Combined times of the two Superbike sessions:

In Supersport, Federico Caricasulo showed his motivation from the start of the session with a time of 1'45.635. At the end of the session, this best time still held, and Caricasulo fell while trying to improve it 5 minutes from the end of this first session.

His teammate Randy Krummenacher finished second at 0.082, ahead of Jules Cluzel third at 0.214 and Isaac Viñales. Corentin Perolari finished eighth, Jules Danilo eleventh and Gaëtan Matern eighteenth. Lucas Mahias was absent.

Times achieved during the first Supersport session:

Reference times in Supersport:

Test record: 1'44.554 by Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta) in 2015

Lap record: 1'45.180 by Michele Pirro (Ten Kate Honda) in 2010.

During the last session, Randy Krummenacher set the best time in 1'45.392, while Federico Caricasulo did not improve his time from FP1, and Jules Cluzel third moved to 1'45.700, 0.308 behind the Swiss leader.

Perolari ranked eighth, Danilo twelfth and Matern nineteenth.

Combined times of the two Supersport sessions:

Photos © worldsbk.com / Dorna