IN
THE
WIND
P38
Toprak Razgatlioglu
started his year as
champion off in perfect
style by taking the fastest
time in the Catalunya
preseason test.
New Champ Razgatlioglu Fastest As
WorldSBK Season Draws Near
A
n almost "all-out" private test
session was held at Barcelo-
na, March 25-26, with the Cata-
lan venue ultimately set to host
round eight of the WorldSBK
Championship in late September.
The 2021 Champion and new
WorldSBK superstar, Toprak
Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldS-
BK Team), led the combined times
with a 1:40.571, set in the first half
of the second day. Afternoon rains
effectively ended the track action
for the 20-plus WorldSBK riders
who joined a smattering of Ducati
WorldSSP riders.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Rac-
ing – Ducati), back on a V4 R that
he won 16 races with during a
single Ducati season in 2019, was
second fastest overall, thanks to a
1:40.824 set on Friday.
Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda)
was the fastest of HRC's two new
2022 rookies, going third quick-
est on a much-changed Honda
Fireblade technical package in
WorldSBK trim.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing
Team) was fourth at a test orga-
nized originally by his KRT squad.
Like HRC, KRT has its WorldSBK
racing base in Barcelona.
Texan Garrett Gerloff (GRT
Yamaha) was fifth overall and even
led one Catalunya session. Like all
the Yamaha riders he had some
updated electronic solutions and
new components on his R1. Cata-
lunya was the venue for his first
WorldSBK podium, in 2020.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.
it Racing – Ducati) put the sec-
ond works Ducati into the top
six, but in seventh place overall
was new BMW rider Scott Red-
ding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK
Team). His new teammate
