(Motorsport-Total.com) – Yamaha factory rider Toprak Razgatlioglu finished the first free practice session at the Superbike World Championship in Misano (Italy) as the leader. The Turk completed the course in 1:34.154 minutes, setting the best time for FT1 (see FT1 result). The two factory Ducati riders Michael Rinaldi and Alvaro Bautista were also fast. And Dominique Aegerter (GRT-Yamaha) also had a promising start to the weekend.

The 25 riders found ideal conditions at the start of the first session of the fifth WSBK event of the current season at 10:30 a.m. Some riders and teams came to Misano well prepared: Ducati, Yamaha, BMW and Honda completed a test in Misano after the Barcelona weekend. Kawasaki passed on this opportunity and tested in Jerez.

Bonovo BMW rider Loris Baz rolled out after just a few minutes of the first practice session and lost valuable training time. It later turned out that a cooling hose on the BMW M1000RR was loose and Baz therefore parked the motorcycle.

After a quarter of an hour, Toprak Razgatlioglu was leading the standings with a lap of 1:34.400. Behind him were the two factory Ducatis of Alvaro Bautista and Michael Rinaldi. Halfway through FP1, Rinaldi moved into the lead. The local hero beat Razgatlioglu’s time by 0.004 seconds.

Toprak Razgatlioglu prevails against the two factory Ducatis

Toprak Razgatlioglu was on course for the best time in the final phase of FP1, but then caught up with fellow Yamaha rider Remy Gardner. On the following lap, Razgatlioglu braked too late in the first corner. But on the following lap, the ex-champion managed a strong time. With a time of 1:34.154 minutes, Razgatlioglu moved into the lead.

World champion Alvaro Bautista decided not to make a final offensive. The champion finished FT1 in third position. Ducati teammate Michael Rinaldi finished FT1 in second position.

© Ducati

Dominique Aegerter was the best independent rider in fourth place. The Swiss rider rode for the first time after his arm pump operation and indicated that he is fit with a lap of 1:34.706. Aegerter relegated Yamaha brand colleague Andrea Locatelli to fifth place. GRT team-mate Remy Gardner only finished in 14th place.

© Yamaha

The first Kawasaki followed in sixth place. Alex Lowes came within 0.662 seconds of the best time. Kawasaki team-mate Jonathan Rea only finished eighth in FP1.

Tom Sykes with strong performance in BMW comeback

Garrett Gerloff was the best of the four BMW drivers in seventh place. For a long time, substitute driver Tom Sykes was in the top 8 and was on course to be the best BMW driver. The Briton was eventually relegated to twelfth place.

© BMW Motorrad

Factory driver Scott Redding finished FT1 in eleventh position and drove exactly the same lap time as Tom Sykes in twelfth position. Loris Baz finished FT1 in 16th position. After the defect at the beginning, Baz was able to complete another 15 laps.

Difficult start for the Ducati customer teams

The two Honda factory riders made it into the top 10. Xavi Vierge was ninth, slightly faster than HRC teammate Iker Lecuona. The two MIE Hondas ended up at the back of the field as usual. Hafizh Syahrin finished 22nd and reserve rider Ryo Mizuno finished in 24th place, more than five seconds behind.

The start to the Misano weekend was bumpy for the Ducati customer riders. Danilo Petrucci (Barni) only finished in 13th place. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa) finished FT1 in 15th position and Philipp Öttl (GoEleven) was listed in 17th place.

The second free practice session of the Superbike World Championship in Misano will start at 3:00 p.m. (TV overview).