WorldSBK Estoril | Razgatlioglu picks up where he left off in Portugal

Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his strong form around the Estoril circuit by topping free practice just a few months after concluding the 2020 WorldSBK season with two wins there.

With the  Portuguese venue hosting the final round of last year’s championship, the Turkish rider was in imperious form to claim two wins, assuring him of fourth in the overall standings.

This weekend it will set the scene for round two of the 2021 WorldSBK season, but Razgatlioglu quickly showed why he will be the rider to beat again on the Yamaha by setting his best time of the day in FP1 with a 1m 37.284.

Ducati duo Scott Redding and Michael Ruben Rinaldi made improvements in FP2 to end the day second and third, the latter no doubt hoping to perform better than at Aragon when he proved well off the pace on his debut in factory colours.

Garrett Gerloff was fourth fastest on the GRT Yamaha, with early championship leader Jonathan Rea leading Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes in fifth and sixth respectively. BMW trio Tom Sykes - despite a crash - Eugene Laverty and Jonas Folger filled positions seven, eight and nine, with factory Yamaha rookie Andrea Locatelli rounding out the top ten.

Following a disrupted BMW debut in Aragon, Michael van der Mark’s issues continued into Estoril as he was forced to miss FP1 entirely, while Alvaro Bautista’s destructive reputation showed no sign of abating as he dropped the Honda three times over the course of the day. 

Meanwhile, Kohta Nozane has been taken to the medical centre after a fierce final corner high side brought out the red flags with two minutes of FP2 to go.

2021 WorldSBK Estoril - Friday Free Practice Results