Round | Round Estoril, FP2: Redding stands out ahead of everyone

The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returns to the track after 27 years at the Estoril Circuit with the first two Free Practice sessions: the best time goes to Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) who makes the most of all his experience on the track Portuguese.

Redding was the fastest during the morning and also in the afternoon when he set a 1'36.886 in the final stages of the session ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team); Frenchman Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) finishes third despite the crash that occurred in the afternoon session.
Baz lost control of his Yamaha and was unable to return to the pits after damaging a water pipe. The Ten Kate Racing team managed to resolve the problem and allowed him to return to the track with around 10 minutes left in the session.
Five-time world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) is fourth: this weekend at Estoril he is hunting for his 100th victory and sixth world title. Behind him we find his boxmate Alex Lowes. The American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) is the third Yamaha rider to be present in the top six places of the combined ranking.
Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) finished seventh, less than a second from Redding and preceded the wildcard Jonas Folger (Bonovo Action by MGM Racing) by just two thousandths in his second appearance of the season. Ninth time for Michael van der Mark (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) ahead of Leon Haslam (Team HRC), tenth.
Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) is 11th and wants to redeem himself after the difficult weekend experienced in Magny-Cours; the Spaniard crashed at turn 7 during the afternoon session. Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is 12th, placing Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) behind him.
The Spaniard Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) is 14th: this will be his last round with the Kawasaki Puccetti team. 15th time for Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance). Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) is 16th, behind him are Matteo Ferrari (Barni Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).
Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing), Eric Granado (MIE Racing HONDA Team), Sheridan Morais (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura), Takumi Takahashi (MIE Racing HONDA Team) and Loris Cresson (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) close the ranking; Granado, Morais and Cresson are making their first appearance of the season in WorldSBK.

These are the top six after FP2 of the Estoril Round:

1.) Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) 1'36.886
2.) Toprak Razgatlioglu (PATA YAMAHA WorldSBK Official Team) +0.089
3.) Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) +0.198
4.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.557
5.) Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.677
6.) Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) +0.720