Superbikes | Misano round, FP2: Bautista closes in the lead

The fourth round of the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship began at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”, the Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round, which immediately gave great emotions to the home fans.

At the end of the first day Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) is in the lead:
the Spaniard - winner with the Red on the Romagna track in 2019 - takes the lead with just over ten minutes remaining in the session. Bautista showed that he is very strong in the second part of the track while on the other side of the garage excellent things are also coming from Michael Ruben Rinaldi who is currently fourth fastest on his home circuit.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) aims to repeat what happened in 2021, given that he started winning at Misano in the season that later saw him become world champion. Today the Turk was consistently faster than his rivals in the first half of the lap but then lost to Bautista in the final sector. Despite this, the world champion ends today in second position while this afternoon his boxing partner Andrea Locatelli was the only one who did not improve and is tenth overall.

1'34.134 this afternoon for Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who boasts eight victories in Misano and ends his Friday in third position while Alex Lowes is seventh.

The Independent riders also did very well: Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven), returning to the track after the shoulder injury suffered at Estoril, is fifth and precedes Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who today completed 44 turns.

Another excellent first day of work for Honda: Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and his teammate Xavi Vierge are fresh from the recent test carried out in Suzuka. At the moment Lecuona is 8th in the combined while Vierge occupies the 11th position.
Friday started uphill for BMW: Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had to deal with some electronics problems and then finished ninth fastest in the combined but only eight tenths behind Bautista while his boxing partner Illia Mykhalchyk is 23rd.

A day of ups and downs for Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), fifth this morning and 12th this afternoon. Behind the Venetian we find Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW). Positive Friday for Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport – Yamaha), 14th: the Frenchman precedes Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) and Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who crashed in FP1. The Japanese was forced to miss the first ten minutes of FP2 for not respecting the commissioners' instructions.
Roberto Tamburini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) – returning to the track at his home circuit after his injury – is 17th while behind him is the wildcard Gabriele Ruiu (Bmax Racing), who crashed without consequences in FP2. Alessandro Delbianco (TPR Team Pedercini Racing) is 19th fastest, ahead of the Malaysian rookie Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team), the San Marino Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and the returning Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) while Leandro Mercado ( MIE Racing Honda Team) and Oliver Konig (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) close the ranking.

Below are the top ten combined at the end of WorldSBK FP2 in Misano:

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1'34.008
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.107
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.126
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.176
5. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) +0.490
6. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.597
7. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team)
8. Lecuona Ideas (Team HRC)
9. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
10. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)