2022 World Superbike Misano, Italy - Free Practice Results (2)

World Superbike championship leader Alvaro Bautista topped an extremely competititve FP2 at Misano ahead title rivals Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.

In what was a bizarre announcement at the start of FP2, GRT Yamaha rider Kohta Nozane was forced to miss the opening ten minutes due to failing to follow instructions of the marshals in FP1. 

On track, Rea made a blistering start to FP2 as he went underneath Razgatlioglu’s fastest time from this morning on just his second lap.

Another strong effort from Rea saw the six-time World Superbike champion set a time of 1:34.134s - half a second clear of Alvaro Bautista.

Razgatlioglu did manage to reduce Rea’s deficit to just over a tenth, however, the reigning world champion quickly saw his time deleted due to exceeding track limits. 

Determined to secure P2, Razgatlioglu regrouped in order to move above the Ducatis of Michael Rinaldi and Bautista, albeit the Turkish rider was still three tenths down on Rea.

While the top two returned to pit lane, FP2 saw impressive World Superbike rookie Iker Lecuona make another strong start. 

Track limits catch out several riders…

While the former MotoGP rider moved up to sixth - +0.659s off Rea’s time, track limits were proving difficult for some to get on top of.

The latest to have a lap time deleted was fellow Honda rider Leandro Mercado, who was struggling down in 21st place. 

After jumping into the top ten, Gerloff also had his time deleted as he ran across the green between turns 15 and 16. 

Looking to bounce back from a difficult morning session where track time was limited due to electronics issues, Scott Redding saw one of his better laps deleted due to, yes you guessed it, exceeding track limits, as did Bautista with 25 minutes remaining.    

As Rea continued to lead, Bautista made sure that it was by the thinnest of margins as he went +0.016s down on the Kawasaki rider. Also finding pace was Razgatlioglu as the Pata Yamaha rider also closed in on the top two. 

Narrowly missing out on setting the first sub 1m 33s lap of the weekend, Bautista’s second stint was proving to be a very good one as he took over top spot by +0.036s. 

Like Nozane in FP1, there was a late fall for BMW rider Gabriele Ruiu.

With new tyres fitted the top three all began laps with red sectors, but while Rea’s effort went away from him, Bautista improved again to post a 1:34.008s. 

Razgatlioglu, not for the first time in FP2, saw a time good enough for top spot get deleted before he eventually jumped up to P2 on his next lap.  

Late improvements from Philipp Oettl and Garrett Gerloff saw the pair move ahead of Alex Lowes with fifth and sixth, while the top four remained unchanged. 

Misano World Superbike Records

Fastest ever lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:33.416s (2021)

Fastest Race lap - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati 1:34.356s (2021) 

2021 Race Winners 

Race 1 - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati

Superpole Race - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati

Race 2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha

Razgatlioglu leads a Pata Yamaha 1-2 during World Superbike FP1 at Misano

With rain expected for FP1, track conditions instead remained dry as Rea and Razgatlioglu could only be separated by +0.005s after their initial flying laps. 

As the only riders under the 1m 36s barrier, Rea further extended his lead over Razgatlioglu after setting a time of 1:35.489s - 0.333s clear off the reigning world champion. 

As two-time Misano race winner (2021) Michael Rinaldi joined the fun at the front, Razgatlioglu set a blistering time of 1:34.975s to go fastest by three tenths from the Ducati rider. 

Making their return from injury, Garrett Gerloff and Philipp Oettl both made impressive starts to FP1 with the latter settling into fourth place.

Competing at their home round, Ducati’s pace was evident as Rinaldi, Oettl, Axel Bassani and championship leader Alvaro Bautista occupied positions 2-6 early on.  

As the opening stints came to a close, Rea jumped back to the top of the leaderboard by a tenth. 

With rain eventually falling around mid-session, track action became limited until the final 15 minutes. 

In what was a crucial session for Scott Redding and BMW given their poor start to the season, FP1 soon turned into a disaster for the former MotoGP rider as Redding failed to set a flying lap until 10 minutes were remaining. 

Electronics issues were the cause for Redding missing out on most of FP1, similar issues that cost Michael Van Der Mark at times in 2021.

Regarding Van Der Mark, the Dutch rider remains sidelined for this weekend and is being replaced by World Endurance rider Ilya Mychalchyk. 

As Bassani went third quickest late on, Rea was once again demoted to second as Razgatlioglu bounced back with a time of 1:34.603s.

World Superbike Misano weekend schedule 

Saturday 

08:00-08:30 - Free Practice 3 

10:10-10:25 - Superpole 

13:00 Race 1

Sunday 

08:00-08:15 Warm-up 

10:00 Superpole Race 

14:15 Race 2