He dominated the last two rounds and in Most he started from where he left off: Toprak Razgatlioglu set the fastest time on Friday in the Czech round, confirming himself as the man to beat after leading both the first and second sessions. Only Alvaro Bautista managed to get close to the BMW rider’s time, stopping in second place just over a tenth behind.
What is most striking is that the championship leader did not sign the time attack with the SCX, while his opponents mounted the most performing tyre on the single lap. This suggests that the BMW standard bearer may still have something in his pocket to show off at the right moment. At the end of Friday, however, Toprak’s reference of 1’31”519 is approached only by that of the reigning champion, 103 thousandths away.
The Razatlioglu-Bautista duo makes the difference on the rest of the group, which despite some flashes is further away. Behind the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati standard bearer we find Jonathan Rea, who appears in good form at the start of the weekend and closes Friday’s free practice with the third fastest time in the combined session, despite being a good half a second behind the leader. Only 19 thousandths separate the Northern Irishman from his former teammate Alex Lowes, fourth.
It looks like it will be a weekend of great battles, with four different brands in the top four positions. The fifth fastest time, however, belongs to a Ducati, specifically the #11 of Nicolò Bulega. The rookie, second in the championship, is on his first weekend as a Superbike rider on the Most track and puts Friday in the bag with a 552 thousandths gap from the leader of the day and direct rival in the standings.
Great start to the weekend for Danilo Petrucci, who finished sixth in the combined after showing that he was particularly effective especially in the first sector of the track. The Terni rider from team Barni was the best of the independent riders and preceded Remy Gardner, seventh and the only one of the leading group not to have improved on the morning time.
BMW can smile at the end of Friday’s free practice, because it placed three bikes in the top ten positions: in addition to the leader Razgatlioglu, Michael van der Mark is eighth with the other official M 1000 RR, while Scott Redding continues on the positive line and is ninth with the BMW of the Bonovo team. Andrea Locatelli, author of a slip in the afternoon session, closes the top 10.
The other Italians are struggling: Andrea Iannone is 11th with the Ducati of the Goeleven team. The rider from Vasto is making his debut on the Czech track and remains 57 thousandths from the top 10, not without difficulty. Axel Bassani is also slowed down, riding the official Kawasaki, who does not go beyond the 15th time of the day. Things are even worse for Michael Ruben Rinaldi, last of the Ducati riders and only 17th with the Panigale V4R of the Motocorsa team.
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