Intense, crazy and non-stop… that’s how the final day of testing for the Superbike World Championship in European soil was. Before heading to Australia to start his 2024 season at the end of February, Toprak Razgatlioglu became the fastest rider ever on a SBK at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.
After Nicolò Bulega was the fastest on the first day riding the official Ducati Panigale V4R, the second day held at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve saw Toprak Razgatlioglu being the first on the timesheet riding the BMW, facing a new challenge in his sports career.
Close to lunchtime, ‘El Turco’ put the SCX compound tire on the rear wheel of his bike and at the end of a short stint, he set a lap time of 1m39.255s, four tenths below the official circuit record but still about two tenths off the best time set by Álvaro Bautista during the tests held here at the beginning of the 2023 season. However, the best was yet to come and on his final outing, the former world champion even secured a new record for the circuit (unofficial) by completing a lap in 1m39.189s, after having a long exit in the afternoon with the SC0 compound that resulted in a series of laps in the 40-second range and the initial laps always very close to the 39-second range, showing the evolution of the German bike and the improved swingarm that seems to have helped find the desired traction for both riders on Shaun Muir’s team, as it was also clear from the times set by his teammate, Michael van der Mark.
Faster than everyone else on the first day, Nicolò Bulega once again showed his speed and consistency to finish the tests just 86 milliseconds behind Toprak, even though the Ducati team continues to claim that the Italian rider is still adapting to his new bike after being the Supersport world champion in 2023. Behind him… and in what we can consider a true balance of power for the new season, Alex Lowes was the best Kawasaki rider, finishing the test in third place after a day where he did a lot of work on the electronics and chassis, as well as testing new suspension solutions that Showa brought to the Algarve.
Con cuatro marcas distintas en las cuatro primeras posiciones, Remy Gardner fue el mejor piloto de Yamaha al terminar en cuarto lugar, a menos de cuatro décimas del líder, superando a Michael van der Mark y Andrea Locatelli. Entre los diez primeros también destacan las dos BMW del Team Bonovo, pilotadas por Scott Redding y Gareth Gerloff, que cerraron el grupo de los diez más rápidos a menos de un segundo del veloz Toprak Razgatlioglu, confirmando que BMW no hace distinción entre los dos equipos que tiene en la parrilla de salida, ya que sus cuatro pilotos tienen material idéntico para enfrentar la nueva temporada.
El sonido de las cinco de la tarde marcó el final de las pruebas dobles, un día en el que los pilotos de MotoGP, liderados una vez más por Francesco Bagnaia, rodaron menos que en el primer día y que estuvo marcado por las caídas de Franco Morbidelli y Fabio Digianantonio, caídas que incluso provocaron dos banderas rojas, al igual que sucedió con Danilo Petrucci, el octavo más rápido al final de la preparación para su segundo año en el campeonato mundial de SBK. También destacar la 15ª posición de Álvaro Bautista, quien se quejó de dificultades de tracción en su Ducati, él que defiende el título mundial en la disciplina por segundo año consecutivo.
Los 10 más rápidos
1º Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’39.189s
2º Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.086s
3º Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.332s
4º Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.377s
5º Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.428s
6º Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) +0.469s
7º Jonathan Rea (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) +0.496s
8º Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.767s
9º Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.946s
10º Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.947s
*tiempos absolutos al final de los dos días de prueba
