The six-time World Champion topped the time sheets by just 0.016s ahead of his nearest rival Toprak Razgatlioglu on the opening day of testing at MotorLand Aragon
Despite colder conditions impacting the Day 1 Test at MotorLand Aragon, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was able to lap faster than the race lap record for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship venue as he topped the timesheets on Day 1 of testing.
Rea claimed top spot on the opening day of action with a lap late in the third and final session of track action as he posted a 1’49.394s, to go under his own race lap record at MotorLand Aragon by two tenths of a second. Rea, who was hoping to start fine tuning his ZX-10RR machine ahead of the Pirelli Aragon Round beat Razgatlioglu’s best time of 1’49.410s, set in FP2, in the final minutes of Day 1.
Like Rea, Razgatlioglu was under the race lap record set the six-time World Champion in last year’s Superpole Race, although the 2021 Champion’s day ended a few minutes early when he suffered a technical issue at Turn 15 in the closing stages of the session. Razgatlioglu used new electronics throughout the test as well as working on the race setup of his Yamaha YZF R1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) claimed third spot despite a crash on his Panigale V4 R machine at Turn 6 in FP3, ending the day six tenths down on Rea’s best time as his focus was on the start of the season in just a few days.
The top 10 following WorldSBK action at Aragon
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’49.394s
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.016s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.631s
4. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.726s
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.029s
6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +1.039s
7. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) +1.052s
8. Kohta Nozane (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +1.126s
9. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +1.192s
10. Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) +1.206s