Aragon WSBK: Rea fastest in second practice

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea topped the second World Superbikes free practice session at Aragon this afternoon.

The Ulsterman delivered a telling ride towards the end of the session, improving his initial 1’51.892 – which had him second at the time – with a 1’51.234.

In behind Rea was his Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes, whose own 1’51.379 was an improvement on his efforts in FP1.

Sykes was not the only improver, with the whole grid posting better times and the Yorkshireman was just .103 ahead of Chaz Davies, who gave another good account of himself on the Ducati with a 1’51.582.

Track conditions, a strong Panigale package and a young Spaniard at home on the Aragon track meant Xavi Fores again produced an impressive ride, coming home in the session just behind his team-mate Davies with a 1’52 on the dot.

After a slightly disappointing opening session, Leon Haslam – the man who looks the biggest threat to Jonathan Rea so far – made a better fight of things in the second practice session.

Haslam’s improvement began when he secured a 1’52.333 early in the second session and he was able to improve yet again as the clock wore on. His best time of 1’52.096 left him in fifth place and with a good base to work on ahead of the remaining sessions before Superpole.

His Aprilia team-mate was not so lucky, however, as Jordi Torres could only scrape into the top ten on his RSV4 with a time of 1’52.766, which was at least an improvement from FP1.

Alex Lowes finished third in the morning session but he struggled to better his time in the afternoon, with sixth place and a time of 1’52.309 his best effort just as the session ended.

Lowes’ Crescent Suzuki team-mate Randy DePuniet did make some small improvements in the afternoon but the GSX-R1000 is still proving troublesome for the Frenchman. A 1’53.178 saw him finish 14th.

Rounding out the top ten behind Lowes was Pata Honda duo Michael Van Der Mark and Sylvain Guintoli, seventh and ninth respectively with times of 1’52.558 and 1’52.617.

The Honda pair have plenty of work ahead of them this weekend if they are to trouble the principals.

Sandwiched between the rookie and the champion was Nicolas Terol in eighth, as the Spaniard produced a commendable effort in the second session with a 1’52.607.

Further down the grid, Leon Camier had little more joy in the session than he did earlier this morning.

After a morning spent in the pits mainly, the 28-year-old got a bit more time on the MV Agusta during the afternoon but a 1’55.015 was the best he could muster.

As it was with the whole grid, it was an improvement on FP1 from Camier, but it couldn’t have gotten much worse.

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