Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) stormed to top spot in Free Practice 1 for the Tissot Aragon Round as he made his MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship return at MotorLand Aragon. The #54 had missed the last two rounds through injury but it was like he had never been away. He led a BMW 1-2 with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) in second, while two Hondas were third and fourth.

Razgatlioglu left it late but posted his best time on his final flying lap as he set a 1’49.021s to secure P1 and demote BMW stablemate Gerloff into second. It’s the 2021 Champion’s first session since his Magny-Cours FP2 crash but he wasted no time in getting back out on track, leaving the pits immediately and completing three runs, with his best time almost matching the race lap record set in 2023. On Thursday, Razgatlioglu was declared fit but to be reviewed after FP1, and he was subsequently passed fit for the remainder of the weekend. Gerloff claimed second, 0.007s clear of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in third as Honda started their weekend strongly.

Vierge was less than a tenth ahead of teammate Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in fourth, with a “Noah’s Ark” theme to the order in FP1. With BMW 1-2 and Honda 3-4, it shows a remarkable turnaround for the two brands who were last and second last in last year’s Manufacturers’ Championship. Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) was fifth ahead of Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) in sixth.

Iannone led six consecutive Italian riders in the field, with Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in seventh. The Cremona hat-trick hero posted a best time of 1’49.867s to finish ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) and Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in P8 and P9 respectively. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) rounded out the top ten as he set a 1’49.981s. Although he completed a similar number of laps to those around him, the #11 lost the first 15 minutes of the session due to an electrical problem.

The top six from WorldSBK FP1, full results here:

1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’49.021s

2. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.465s

3. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +0.472s

4. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.525s

5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.652s

6. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +0.823s

Don’t miss Free Practice 2 at 15:00 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now only €9.99!