Rea leads Kawasaki 1-2 in FP2, Davies fastest overall

Jonathan Rea leads a Kawasaki 1-2 in WorldSBK Aragon FP2 but it is Chaz Davies that leads the overnight timesheets in Spain

Ollie Barstow

28 Aug 2020

Rea leads Kawasaki 1-2 in FP2, Davies fastest overall

WorldSBK Aragon - Free Practice Results (2)

Kawasaki sprung to the top of the timesheets in second free practice for round four of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at Motorland Aragon with Jonathan Rea setting the pace, though it is Chaz Davies that heads up the overnight timesheets.

With warmer temperatures preventing a number of riders to improve on their morning best, Davies’ FP1 benchmark 1m 50.543secs was enough to give him the Friday spoils overall, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Rea and Alvaro Bautista the static top four on the combined timesheets.

Even so, Rea’s efforts in FP2 will be enough to send a ripple of concern through his rivals as he spent much of the afternoon pounding round on a used tyre to evaluate race pace, before a fresh set of rubber allowed him to leapfrog to the head of the timesheets with a 1m 50.865s.

He led Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes in second place as one of the few riders to improve on their morning best, though the Briton blotted his copybook with a low side at Turn 14 with 10mins remaining.

Another improver was Scott Redding, who rebounded back to third place having languished around the edge of the top ten for much of the day, the Briton heading off top Yamaha rider Toprak Razgatlioglu.

FP1 headliners Davies and Rinaldi were fifth and sixth on their respective Ducatis this time, ahead of top Honda man Leon Haslam, who suffered a fall at Turn 1 right at the end of the session.

Tom Sykes and Eugene Laverty provided a BMW sandwich for Michael van der Mark in ninth position, with Maximilian Scheib impressing with 11th best ahead of Ten Kate Yamaha Loris Baz.

Though he ends the day fourth on the combined timesheets, it was otherwise a torrid Friday for Alvaro Bautista who having gone quick initially in FP1 fell at Turn 1 and then suffered a technical issue that sprayed oil from his Fireblade.

Despite the break between sessions, Honda appeared unable to fix the machine in time with Bautista completing a series of out-in laps without setting a time.