Rainy conditions challenge riders in Donington Park – Rea and Razgatlioglu lead the way on Day 1

On the first day of the Prosecco DOC UK Round at Donington Park, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) concluded the day as the fastest rider in mixed conditions, as he set the best time in the morning session before intermittent rain affected the proceedings in FP2.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK team) finished just 0.012 seconds off the fastest time with his best FP2 lap. Team GoEleven’s Philipp Oettl secured the third-fastest time, leading the Ducati riders.

British riders Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team)and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured fifth and sixth places respectively. Varying conditions and limited mileage meant that Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) finished only eighth in the day’s standings.

P1 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK
“It was a strange day because this morning, even with mixed conditions, you don’t want to be the first guy to find out it’s slippery… So I was much more cautious, trying to pick my window on the track. I didn’t really do many very fast corner laps, but during the laps I did, the bike felt okay. I was working on the new asphalt, which has a lot of grip compared to last year. We understood some things, but we need to put all of this together for a long race. We would need much more time, and we’re running out of time, which means tomorrow morning’s FP3 is very important to make really good decisions for our race setup.”

WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’27.627s
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) +0.012s
3. Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) +0.130s
4. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +0.154s
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.230s
5. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) +0.430s

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