The fight back is on in style as the reigning World Champion laid down an emphatic pace

It was a sunny start to Saturday at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve for the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. With the weather being kind once again, lap records are in danger and already, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) has beaten his own lap record of Portimao in FP3, setting a 1’40.121 to put him half a second clear of his nearest rivals, which happened to be led by his factory Yamaha teammate.

Heading the timesheets on Saturday morning, Toprak Razgatlioglu set a new lap record with just over ten minutes left in the session and he kept pushing right until the end with a final run on the SCX tyre. The reigning World Champion knows the importance of this weekend and knows he has to return to winning ways. He was ahead of his teammate Andrea Locatelli, with the Italian rider making big improvements compared to Friday, whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was only third. He was in the pits for a portion of the middle part of the session before returning to the circuit. His teammate, Alex Lowes, took fourth place and was just over a tenth behind Rea. Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who completed Friday in fifth, remained in the same position.

Early drama for @ArubaRacing as Rinaldi goes out with technical issues #PRTWorldSBKpic.twitter.com/UbDGDz4ShD

In sixth place it was an impressive start to the day for the top Independent of Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven), who was right in the mix and aims for a top six in the races, whilst Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) took top BMW honours. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was top Honda ahead of teammate Xavi Vierge, with all five manufacturers inside the top eight. Completing the top ten was Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), after topping FP1; he was just ahead of Independent rival Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing), who will remain with the team until the end of 2023.

In 12th and 13th, BMW pairing Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) suffered technical problems at Turn 5 and Turn 13 respectively. There was plenty of drama for Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) too, with the Italian suffering a big mechanical problem into Turn 7, with a big cloud of smoke coming from his Ducati Panigale V4 R. Wildcards Jake Gagne (Attack Performance Yamaha Racing) and Marvin Fritz (IXS – YART – Yamaha) were 16th and 25th respectively.

Top six after WorldSBK FP3 at Portimao, full results here:

1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1’40.121s

2. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.592s

3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.606s

4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.716s

5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.767s

6. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) +0.794s

Enjoy the action LIVE as it unfolds throughout the remainder of 2022 with the WorldSBK VideoPass!

Alvaro Bautista took victory in a hard-fought Race 2 victory after a thrilling battle with Toprak Razgatlioglu

The reigning Champion was under pressure and attack for every single lap of the race as he doubled up on Portimao wins

Race 1 winner Toprak Razgatlioglu topped Sunday morning’s Warm Up session as he looks to continue closing the gap in the title rac

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