Indonesian World Superbike Results: Rinaldi doubles up to lead Bautista in FP2

Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Ducati look to be in ominous form after completing a Friday clean sweep during World Superbike practice in Mandalika. 

In Free Practice 2 it was Jonathan Rea who set the pace early on, holding a substantial advantage over the rest of the field before Rinaldi closed to +0.037s.

While Rinaldi continued showing impressive pace, teammate Alvaro Bautista suffered an early crash at turn one. 

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With Rinaldi once again on a lap that looked set to take him to the top of the leaderboard, the Aruba.it Ducati rider instead had his lap deleted due to exceeding track limits.

Yet to join his main rivals at the front was Toprak Razgatlioglu, with the Yamaha rider making a quick return to pit lane. 

Razgatlioglu then moved up to seventh at the beginning of his second stint, while Rinaldi finally took over top spot by nearly two tenths. 

Showing no ill effects of his early tumble, Bautista immediately went fastest after re-joining the action.

Despite Razgatlioglu continuing to make improvements, it was Remy Gardner that was the top Yamaha with more than half the session gone as he sat fourth, one place higher than the 2021 world champion.  

Iker Lecuona suffered a second fall of the weekend at turn ten before returning to pit lane and showing huge frustration in the Honda garage. 

Back at the front, Rinaldi looked set to go fastest once again before catching a slow moving Lecuona, prior to the Honda rider returning to the pits. 

Razgatlioglu then dislodged Bautista with the first sub 1m 33s lap of the weekend, however, Bautista’s response was immediate as he returned to the top by over a tenth. 

Rinaldi then produced a brilliant lap to make it back-to-back practice sessions at the top of the leaderboard, showing that he might have the pace to fight his teammate for the win on Saturday.

Rinaldi sets the pace in Mandalika World Superbike FP1

Despite a crash on his opening run at turn 10, Rinaldi was fastest for Ducati ahead of Razgatlioglu. 

Less than a tenth separated Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu, while championship leader Bautista was third - +0.170s down on his teammate.

Fourth fastest and also in contention was Kawasaki’s Rea, after the six-time champion endured a difficult opening round at Phillip Island.

There were also crashes for Bonovo Action BMW rider Loris Baz, Iker Lecuona, who looked uncomfortable when returning to his Honda garage and Lorenzo Baldassarri, with the Italian suffering a big fall at turn six.