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Razgatlioglu dominates dry FP3 ahead of Redding, Rea crashes late on

Saturday, 10 September 2022 07:46 GMT

    • After Alvaro Bautista crashed in FP2, second in the Championship Jonathan Rea took a tumble as reigning Champion and the rider third in the standings Razgatlioglu stormed clear

    After the rain of day one at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship grid was greeted with dry conditions on Saturday morning. The first race day of the Pirelli French Round promises to bring surprises and unpredictability, although there was a familiar rider at the top of the timesheets with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) setting a 1’36.626.

    With dry track conditions for a full session for the first time this weekend, the fastest times of the round so far came in FP3 and Razgatlioglu was the only rider setting a 1’36 time, with half a second in hand over Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). The British rider, a previous winner at Magny-Cours, put the BMW M1000RR in contention and he was backed up by Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW), with the home-hero putting in a great effort for third. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) jumped up the order to fourth late on, whilst Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who topped Friday’s action, took fifth.

    One of the major headlines coming from FP3 was that Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashed right at the end of the session. Having just left the pits to do a practice start, Rea tucked the front at Turn 7, with his bike tumbling through the gravel. He couldn’t remount and concluded the session in sixth, far from an ideal way to head into Tissot Superpole. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took seventh, ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), the American once again inside the top ten. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was ninth whilst Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) concluded in tenth. Top Honda honours went to Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in 11th, whilst second in the wet conditions on Friday, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) was only 13th. There was a fast crash at Turn 1 for Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team), although he was on his feet before being taken to the medical centre.

    Top six after WorldSBK FP3 at Magny-Cours, full results here:

    1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1’36.626s 

    2. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.571s

    3. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.676s

    4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.711s

    5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.751s

    6. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.757s

    Watch all the action unfold at Magny-Cours with the WorldSBK VideoPass!