Rinaldi asserts himself to complete Teruel WorldSBK Friday sweep
2020 WorldSBK Teruel Aragon - Free Practice Results (2)
Michael Ruben Rinaldi once more set the pace in second free practice for round five of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at Motorland Aragon to head the overnight timesheets in Spain.
The in-form Italian has been one of the standout performers of the 2020 WorldSBK season on the relatively unfancied privateer Go Eleven Ducati Panigale V4 R, with six top six results to his name even if he is yet to step on the podium.
However, his chances of challenging for a maiden WorldSBK rostrum have taken a boost as he came out top of both FP1 and FP2, with his 1m 49.840secs lap from the morning holding out as best overall.
Kawasaki duo Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes made it an identical top three order for FP2 as well, with Chaz Davies going fourth fastest from top Honda rider Alvaro Bautista and title contender Scott Redding.
Leon Haslam followed just outside the top six on the second Honda, with Michael van der Mark the best of the Yamaha contingent in eighth as the Japanese manufacturer struggles to find a breakthrough in speed around the unfavourable Spanish venue.
Tom Sykes held down ninth in FP2 as the best BMW rider, with Garrett Gerloff cracking the top ten ahead of both Toprak Razgatlioglu - down in 16th - and Loris Baz, whose session ended early with a crash.
With most of the day’s best times coming from FP1, Rinaldi, Rea, Lowes, Sykes and Razgatlioglu make up the top five on the overall classification with Davies and Bautista’s FP2 gains lifting them to sixth and seventh respectively.
