Baz bounces to top in WorldSBK FP2, Razgatlioglu fastest overall

WorldSBK Portimao – Free Practice Results (2)

Loris Baz consolidated Yamaha’s strong start to the third round of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at Portimao by claiming the quickest time in second free practice.

The Frenchman just edged out Toprak Razgatlioglu on the session timesheets, but it was the Turk that comes away from Friday having achieved the quickest time overall.

Jonathan Rea looked on course to claw back some initiative in FP2 as he topped the timesheets for much of the 50-minute session, only for Baz to leapfrog him with a 1m 42.653secs lap, with Razgatlioglu slotting into second position just 0.014s shy of his Yamaha counterpart.

However, the Turk – who spent much of FP2 working on long range pace – was comfortably the quickest rider overall on Friday, his 1m 42.103s lap giving him a four-tenth advantage over the opposition.

Rea held onto third place ahead of the impressive Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who consolidated his FP1 pace with a run to fourth again in FP2, ahead of a bad-tempered Scott Redding, who suffered more than one off-track moment – and began remonstrating with a confused Leandro Mercado at one stage – as he struggled to find his form before eventually climbing to fifth late on.

Tom Sykes enjoyed a stronger afternoon to lift his BMW to sixth place, ahead of the rider who will join the German team in 2021, Michael van der Mark.

Alvaro Bautista led Honda’s challenge in eighth, but didn’t aid his cause with a low speed tumble at Turn 5, while Alex Lowes and Eugene Laverty rounded out the top ten.

Elsewhere, Chaz Davies was again caught out by his disappointing single lap pace as he ended the day down in 15th overall, behind the privateer Motocorsa Panigale V4 R of Mercado