Razgatlioglu ‘very positive’ about San Juan chances after dominating day one

Toprak Razgatlioglu utterly dominated the opening day of WorldSBK action at San Juan, while title rival Jonathan Rea completed just seven laps in FP2 following a turn six fall. 

Razgatlioglu, who was on the podium during both races when WorldSBK visited San Juan for its debut in 2019, was over half a second clear of the competition in both free practice sessions. 

On both occasions it was Scott Redding who finished second to the Yamaha rider after late efforts saw him bump Rea down to third in FP1, before doing the same to Alex Lowes in the afternoon.

Conditions in FP1 were far from ideal as a sandstorm on Thursday blew huge amounts of sand onto the track - turned FP1 into somewhat of a clean-up job for the riders, however, that didn’t stop Razgatlioglu who was untouchable in sectors three and four especially. 

That trend continued into the afternoon, and while times were close to begin with, Razgatlioglu eventually pulled clear thanks to a stunning second and final stint.

The Yamaha rider churned out over eight laps that were better than Redding and Lowes’ best times in FP2. 

Speaking after day-one, the championship leader added: "We start this morning and, you know, I clean the track… we are all cleaning the track! And also, it was a good lap time this morning, the feeling was good. 

"This afternoon we tried a race simulation and it was also very positive and I am happy with my R1. 

"Now we are ready to race, the race is always difficult but I will try my best again to be fighting for the win. 

"Thanks to my team because this afternoon we made a good set up for my bike and we are happy, but we will see tomorrow!"

For Razgatlioglu’s main title challenger Rea, it was another tough day as the six-time series champion crashed early on in FP2 and missed over 30 minutes of valuable running.