4.45pm – Checkered flag: this second round of testing at Estoril ends with the best time for Razgatlioglu, first in both wet and dry conditions. Sixth is his direct opponent Bulega, who is a full second behind the Turk.
4.44pm – With just over a minute to go before the checkered flag, Bautista, Rea and Ray return to the track.
4.39pm – Time passes, but the engines remain off. This round of tests now seems to be heading towards an early conclusion.
4.35pm – The conditions that the Superbike riders are facing today are not simple, as their work is proving to be heavily affected by the rain. Here is the situation just under 10 minutes from the end of FP2:
4.33pm – Everyone in the pits right now: it’s started raining again on the Estoril circuit.
4.30pm – Petrucci displaces Lowes’ Kawasaki from second place, moving within 7 tenths of Toprak. Bautista also improved, moving up to fourth, overtaking Lecuona by two thousandths. Meanwhile, Gerloff placed himself in eighth place with the BMW of the Bonovo team, while Bulega moved up to sixth.
4.25pm - With 20 minutes to go, Razgatlioglu still leads the timesheets, followed by Alex Lowes and Lecuona. Petrucci fourth, then Bautista, the first rider to suffer a second delay from the Turk.
4.23pm – Lecuona also improves, rising to third, 9 tenths from the top occupied by Toprak. While his teammate Vierge ends up on the ground, crashing in Turn 3 after losing the front of his Honda.
4.22pm – Only a few drops of rain for now, which doesn’t seem to bother the riders too much. Bassani in fact climbs positions, placing his Ninja in 4th place with a time of 1’38″437.
4.18pm – It’s starting to rain again now.
4.15pm – Many drivers are stuck in the pits at the moment. Including Razgatlioglu, leader of the session with seven tenths of an advantage over Alex Lowes and almost a second over Petrucci. After fifteen minutes of action, the Terni native is the best of the Ducati riders. Bautista is in fact 8th, followed by Bulega, Rinaldi and Iannone.
4.11pm – Alex Lowes overtakes Petrucci and takes second place, 7 tenths behind Toprak, while Locatelli takes fifth place. Meanwhile, van der Mark slipped. Here’s the situation 11 minutes into the round:
4.09pm – Petrucci improves, returning to second position, 8 tenths behind Toprak. Just before the Turk touched up the best time of the session, stopping the clock in 1’37″355.
16:08 – 1’38″446 for Vierge, who brings his Honda to second place, ahead of Alex Lowes and teammate Iker Lecuona.
4.05pm – The first chronometric references are starting to arrive. Razgatlioglu immediately takes the lead in 1’37″668, followed by Alex Lowes, Alvaro Bautista, Danilo Petrucci and Remy Gardner. In the meantime, Locatelli also gets into action.
4.03pm – Andrea Iannone and wildcard Luca Bernardi enter the track, while Andrea Locatelli still remains in the pits.
4.00pm – Green light: the 45 minutes of these FP2s begin.
3.56pm – The rain seems to have granted a small respite at least for the moment, but the conditions still don’t seem to be the best. Even though the track is drying, a wind of 8 km/h continues to blow on this Portuguese Friday with an air temperature of 21° C.
3.55pm – Welcome to our live coverage of this second round of SBK testing in Estoril.
The World Superbike riders are preparing to return to action on the Estoril track at 3pm, 4pm in Italy, to compete in FP2, after a first round of testing marked by rain and wind. Difficult conditions, in which the leader of the classification, Toprak Razgatlioglu, prevailed. Ready to repeat himself after having given three tenths of a second to Petrucci, the first of his pursuers in FP1.
Good start also for Alex Lowes and Tarran Mackenzie, who shared third and fourth position, keeping Jonathan Rea and the Ducatis of Alvaro Bautista and Nicolò Bulega behind them. In fact, the weekend for the rookie from Emilia did not start in the best way, as he was unable to go beyond the 7th fastest time in the morning. Also causing a crash, without consequences, in Turn 6.