Portimao WorldSBK FP1 Results: Michael Ruben Rinaldi springs surprise to lead Garrett Gerloff
Results from Free Practice 1, round nine of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship at Portimao, Portugal.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi topped the opening Portimao WorldSBK practice ahead of GRT Yamaha rider Garrett Gerloff.
Despite being held up in the final corner by fellow Yamaha rider Christophe Ponsson, Toprak Razgatlioglu’s first flying lap saw him set a time of 1:41.532s which was a tenth quicker than Jonathan Rea who was in clean air.
Razgatlioglu was then on course to better his time by nearly half a second, the only rider set to improve by such a margin, before a big moment at the final corner saw the reigning Superbike champion abandon the lap.
The Turkish star did eventually lower the benchmark time as he set a 1:41.249s, with Rea also improving in order to go +0.107s down on Razgatlioglu.
It was a slow start to FP1 for leader of the WorldSBK Standings Alvaro Bautista, as the Aruba.it Ducati rider was over a second down following his first few laps.
While sector one was continuing to pose problems for Bautista, the Spanaird was able to reduce the deficit to Razgatlioglu throughout the remainder of the lap, thus moving up to fourth place with half the session completed.
Gerloff also found pace to go fifth quickest, before suffering a big moment on the front-end heading into turn one.
2022 WORLD SUPERBIKE PORTIMAO, PORTUGAL - FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1)
POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME
1 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Racing Ducati 1:40.965s
2 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team +0.117s
3 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK +0.284s
4 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +0.391s
5 Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.It Racing Ducati +0.547s
6 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +0.721s
7 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK +0.795s
8 Scott Redding GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team +0.981s
9 Xavi Vierge SPA Team HRC WorldSBK +1.007s
10 Iker Lecuona SPA Team HRC WorldSBK +1.134s
11 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +1.226s
12 Loris Baz FRA Bonovo Action BMW +1.250s
13 Philipp Oettl GER GoEleven Ducati +1.330s
14 Roberto Tamburini ITA Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team +1.544s
15 Michael Van Der Mark SPA BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team +1.587s
16 Eugene Laverty IRL Bonovo Action BMW +1.605s
17 Leon Haslam GBR Pedercini Kawasaki +1.805s
18 Jake Gagne USA Fresh N Lean Attack Yamaha +2.114s
19 Lucas Mahias FRA Puccetti Kawasaki +2.181s
20 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Motor Sport Yamaha +2.314s
21 Hafizh Syahrin MAL MIE Honda Racing +2.392s
22 Marvin Fritz GER YART Yamaha +2.450s
23 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +2.451s
24 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +2.657s
25 Luca Bernardi SM Barni Spark Ducati Team +3.489s
26 Oliver Konig CZE Orelac Racing Kawasaki +4.682
Lucas Mahias, who looks set to leave WorldSBK and return to WorldSSP following the 2022 season, was surprisingly spotted without sponsors on his Puccetti Kawasaki machine.
Enjoying a strong start to the weekend after scoring just two points in Catalunya, Scott Redding was a consistent top five challenger as Razgatlioglu and Rea remained at the front of the field.
Gerloff, who was over two tenths down on his latest effort, then produced a brilliant final sector to leapfrog Razgatlioglu and take over at the front.
The American then improved again on his next lap as he extended the gap from himself to Razgatlioglu to +0.167s.
Like Gerloff, Rinaldi proved to be extremely strong in the final sector as he jumped from seventh to first with a first sub 1m 41s lap.
There was a late fall for Mahias as the French rider went down at turn three.
Two riders making their final appearances of the season at Portimao are Ponsson and Roberto Tamburini as the pair won’t be participating in the non-European rounds in Argentina, Indonesia and Australia.
