- 2 days ago
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00I
00:30Good morning and welcome to Circuito Estoril in central Portugal, some 30 kilometres west of the capital, Lisbon,
00:41as the Moto FIM Superbike World Championship continues its Iberian conclusion to the 2025 season.
00:48Its first match point this weekend as Toprak Razgat Lioglu looks to wrap up his third world title ahead of next week's season finale at Jerez in Spain.
00:56Niccolo Bulliger ended Toprak's winning streak last time out at Motorland Aragon and will fight as hard as he can.
01:02Off track meanwhile more seats have been filled for 2026 and next year's line-up is close to the completion but there are still plenty of talking points around the paddock.
01:11Dave Goddard and Steve English here at Trackside for Free Practice 3. Steve after the closest finish in World Superbike history here a year ago, will the action be as close as we saw at Estoril on that occasion?
01:21I think it's asking a lot Dave for it to be down like it was in the Superpole race last year. The one thing that we've seen so far this weekend is Toprak's got a lot of pace.
01:28Bulliger's quite fast to be able to go with him. The big question is, is anyone else able to get themselves into the mix?
01:33Realistically for the championship battle we need someone else to be in that fight but with Danilo Petrucci on the sidelines and a few other riders suffering a little bit this weekend it's going to be a tough task.
01:42Yes, on the big stories from Free Practice yesterday, Danilo Petrucci withdrawing from the weekend after Free Practice 1. He'd ridden a few laps there, was quite a way down the times.
01:54A hand injury causing a bizarre accident while training in the gym. Sadly putting him out for the weekend but Toprak Razgatlioglu looking as relaxed and as confident as ever was quickest in Free Practice 1 yesterday morning.
02:07Second to Bulliger in the second session. 36 points lead coming into this weekend. He said that he's not thinking about the title this weekend, he's treating it race by race and wants to do the hat trick if he can this weekend.
02:20Yeah, for Toprak that's always the focus and the easiest thing for him to do is just to continue doing what he's done all season and you can see that run of form that he's been on.
02:28Obviously Aragon was a tough weekend for them but got everything that they could out of that package over the Sunday in Aragon and just came away with two second place finishes but important that for Razgatlioglu he only gave up three points in the championship battle that weekend.
02:40Yes, a really incredible run of form those 13 consecutive victories and only narrowly defeated by Niccolò Bulliger in the Super Pole race and race two at Aragon.
02:50The title really is the Turkish riders to lose his spectacular style as always in evidence in Free Practice 1 yesterday in the sunny and decidedly blustery conditions.
03:01It has to be said here at Estoril this weekend there was a good following wind going down the pit straight certainly and certainly affecting the riders all around the course this weekend the conditions.
03:11Yeah, very windy on Wednesday and Thursday when everyone was getting set up yesterday was a lot calmer and a lot warmer as well.
03:18We ended up where it was pretty much the best conditions anyone can remember here in Estoril in terms of the heat and no one having any real issues out there.
03:26But certainly when the wind picks up here, it does make it very difficult for the riders.
03:31Niccolò Bulliger, the only thing he can do now is treat every race with maximum attack.
03:36He knows exactly what he's got to do. He's got a tough task ahead of him over the final six races of the season.
03:42He's just got to go all out to try and pull away from top rack as much as he can following those two wins at Aragon.
03:48We'll give him a confidence boost at Aragon at the start of that weekend.
03:51He looks a little downcast, but the two wins are improving Ducati's morale all round.
03:57Yeah, and for Bulliger, Sunday and Aragon, really important to be able to get those wins and get himself back on form.
04:02First time he had been on the top step of the podium since May and at least for him he was able to show that he's bringing that fight to Razgadioglu.
04:08And that's what we want to see. That's what we need to see.
04:10Yes, hopefully we'll see another great duel between the two riders who have been head and shoulders above the rest to say the least across the course of the 2025 season.
04:22The battle for bronze in the championship, of course, one factor sadly removed with no Danilo Petrucci.
04:30Also great to see the greatest of all time back on form. Six times champion Jonathan Ray.
04:36I was talking to Yamaha team manager Paul Denning during free practice two yesterday.
04:41He says that perhaps now Ray has got the big announcement out there of his retirement from racing at the end of the season.
04:47It's perhaps released some of the pressure and he's able to perform slightly more towards the sharp end.
04:52He was right up there as one stage P3 in free practice two yesterday. Sixth overall in yesterday's times.
04:59The riders lining up to head out onto track for this 20-minute free practice three.
05:06Times will not be of major importance in this session.
05:09It will be just a shakedown, effectively a warm-up ahead of Superpole coming up at 11am today.
05:15Remy Gardner leading them out on the GRT Yamaha, the number 87.
05:20The only GRT Yamaha this weekend. Unfortunately, no Dominic Egeta following that training crash earlier in the week.
05:26Yeah, shame for Dominic to miss out here in Estoril and we'll see if he's back in the rest.
05:30But for GRT, obviously losing out on a rider at the end of the season, never ideal.
05:35But with Remy, you're trying to see whether or not that Yamaha is able to keep itself in the top ten yesterday.
05:41Ninth fastest in the afternoon session for Remy Gardner.
05:44And really in the Superpole session, if they were able to come away with top three rows of the grid for Locatelli,
05:49Ray and Remy Gardner, then it'd be a really good start to the weekend for Yamaha.
05:53It gives them a good platform for the rest of the week.
05:57Ryan Vickers has been in the news over the course this weekend.
06:00Impressive performance for P5 across the combined sessions yesterday.
06:03But it was announced that he will not continue with the Motocorsa team next season to the surprise of some.
06:11And some rumors that he'll go back to British Superbikes next season.
06:14We'll wait to see what Motocorsa decide ahead of the 2026 season.
06:19Yeah, it's a shame for Ryan. There's been a few flashes through the course of the season of some speed.
06:23If you think back to Hungary, you think back to Donington.
06:25But ultimately for Motocorsa, they've made their decision.
06:28Vickers had a contract for next year.
06:30There's a bit of a dispute about that situation, but it'll be interesting to see where he lands next season.
06:35He's going to have options, whether it's to stay in a Ducati in BSB or you're hearing a few rumors about him
06:41potentially being the Honda test rider here as well.
06:43Like we've seen Tommy Bridewell come in and do some wild cards.
06:46So maybe Honda is an option for him as well.
06:49And certainly it'd be good to be able to see Vickers have that opportunity.
06:52And we'll see where he lands for next season.
06:54Demota showed some impressive pace yesterday.
06:57Third and fourth in the combined sessions of FP1 and 2.
07:01Especially improvement from Axel Bassani as well, taking P4 overall in the times.
07:06The best we've seen from the Italian for some time.
07:10Demota taking the fight to the top two.
07:13So the fight for third in the championship becoming important as well with Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Locatelli both looking to improve.
07:22They know they can try and catch up to Danilo Petrucci with the Italian having withdrawn from the weekend.
07:29Another one in the news recently is Xavi Vierke on the Honda.
07:33But he will be moving to Yamaha.
07:35Big shoes to fill next season as he replaces Jonathan Ray in the factory Yamaha line.
07:39Yeah, big shoes in terms of the CV for Ray.
07:42Obviously for Johnny and for Yamaha it hasn't gone according to the plan that they would have had.
07:46So for Xavi Vierke, he gets the opportunity to come in and realistically for the performances that Yamaha have been able to get from that side of the pit box.
07:53He should be able to come in and do a pretty solid job.
07:56And I think that's where this weekend for Ray we can see we ride on board with he ran off the track at turn one.
08:01It's one of those situations where if Johnny's able to qualify well, he can race well and we'll see if he's able to put in a lap in a couple hours time.
08:10Jonathan Ray able to recover there. We saw the yellow flag out briefly at turn one as he ran wide.
08:16Denning and the team looking on. Johnny looking to continue the improved form he's shown over the last couple of rounds.
08:23Track temperature already up at 21 degrees as well. So things rising fairly rapidly.
08:28It was up to 40 degrees yesterday afternoon. So these hot and, as we said, windy conditions certainly proving a test for the riders.
08:37We'll see times start to come in shortly, but as we've said, timing not of massive importance in this session.
08:43It's all about shaking the machine down, getting warmed up for Super Pole at around 11am.
08:49Yeah, one of the things that a few teams will do during the session is throw in that Q tyre just to do a simulation run and see how they fare.
08:56Here's Danilo Petrucci's machine on display in the pit box. Get well soon to the man who's currently third in the championship.
09:04The leading independent rider this year. Certainly a bizarre accident indeed.
09:09Slipped while doing some training in the gym and his hand made an impact with a metal wart.
09:14Suffered a broken bone in his right hand. He tried to ride in free practice one yesterday as we said, but worsening symptoms after that session.
09:21And he has had to pull out the weekend. Great shame for Danilo Petrucci.
09:25We hope to see him back out as Jerez next week.
09:29One ride up we don't know for certain his puns for 2026 Yetis, Andrea Iannone on the Go 11 Ducati.
09:37Showed some improved form over the last couple of rounds. He's looking fairly quick early on in this session.
09:43One or two linking him with the Motocorsa ride after the announcement yesterday about Ryan Vickers.
09:50But that seems unlikely, others are saying at the moment. We really don't know what Iannone is planning for 2026 at the moment.
09:56Yeah, Iannone knows at the stage. And for Andrea, it's been flashes of speed over the course of his World SBK career.
10:04But ultimately, it's a question of what's going to happen for him next year.
10:08But he needs a couple of good rounds to finish off the season.
10:10Showing some strong pace so far. He's currently second in the times in this session.
10:16Combined times he was in P9 from yesterday.
10:20So, Rami Gardner has done the quickest lap so far this morning ahead of Nicolo Bulliger.
10:25Michael van der Mark going well too. And good to see Taron McKenzie up there as well.
10:30He had a spill in FP1 yesterday. A couple of spills yesterday.
10:34Ike Lecuona had a spill as well. Good to see Lecuona back on the bike as well.
10:39After missing the last couple of rounds with that arm injury sustained at Balaton Park.
10:44The Lecuona report that he gets some laps in here on the Honda ahead of his big move to Ducati next season.
10:54Alex Lowes had a few podiums a couple of rounds ago.
11:00Strong for the Bemota sport this season.
11:03The Lowes brothers have started to have a bit of a friendly rivalry once again with Alex over the last couple of rounds.
11:08Battling with his brother Sam on the Mark VDS Ducati.
11:12Both have been showing a good turn of pace over the last couple of rounds.
11:15Yeah, we've been able to see, especially for Bemota, a good improvement.
11:18And they've been able to get a lot more out of that package over the last few rounds.
11:22A lot of what happens over the course of a Superbike weekend is conditioned by the Superpole session.
11:26If you qualify well, you're able to stay at the front.
11:28If you qualify down the order, it's very difficult to make that progress through the field.
11:32And I think that that's been one of the things that for Bemota with such a new project this year,
11:36it has been quite interesting to see some of the circuits they've worked really well at
11:40and some of the circuits where they'll need to focus on for next season.
11:43But I think overall for a very new project, they've done a good job this year.
11:48So coming up towards halfway through, just over 13 minutes to go in this pre-practice session,
11:54it is Chopraq Rasgat Leonglou, currently the quickest.
11:578 tenths of a second of Raxal Bassani in P2, San Lowe's third,
12:01and Chavid Yerke in fourth baseman service.
12:04Seven percent times are not of major importance in this session.
12:07It's not a competitive session this one.
12:10Is he going to improve though this time through? Not this time.
12:15As the BMW continues at the top of the charts.
12:19Of course, big changes for BMW coming up next year with Michael Vandermeerth
12:24also not returning top rack off to MotoGP.
12:27And it was confirmed ahead of the event here in Portugal
12:31that Portuguese former MotoGP race winner Miguel Oliveira
12:34will be joining the BMW squad for next year alongside Danilo Petrucci for 2026.
12:40Certainly a power-packed line-up to continue BMW's challenge for world titles.
12:45Very impressive indeed from the BMW squad.
12:49Using out three crew chiefs as well over the last few days as well.
12:56Alvaro Bautista looking to improve here, and he does into pieces.
13:00It's been a relatively quiet weekend for Bautista so far.
13:04It's showing a bit of improvement here.
13:07Of course, he'll try to take the fight as we said earlier to Locatelli and Petrucci
13:12in the fight for third in the championship ahead of Bautista's move
13:16to take Petrucci's ride with the Barney Ducati squad for the 2026 season.
13:22Yeah, Iannone improves. Quickest time so far, Razgat-Nioglu at 1.35.378.
13:31Quickest time of the week so far ahead of Bulliga and Alex Lowe's in the combined classification.
13:37Lowe's and Bassani in P2 and P3 in this session.
13:40So MotoGP are continuing their improvements in pace.
13:44Just shy of Jonathan Ray's lap record from Superpole in 2022.
13:49Toprak, is he about to break them as he comes across the line?
13:52He certainly does. 1.35.303.
13:54I was just about to say, was Toprak going to shave the lap record there?
13:58Ray's was a 1.35.346, Razgat-Nioglu at 1.35.303 for a new lap record here at Esquire.
14:04Yeah, and for Toprak, we saw yesterday a really strong pace on his longer run,
14:08and he's now got that all-time lap record as well.
14:12So he's able to prove his one-lap pace too,
14:14but you'd expect that in the Superpole session
14:16we'll be well down into the 34s.
14:18Johnny's lap record from 22 is a long time ago.
14:22A lot of progress has been made both with the bikes and with the Pirates tyres,
14:25so you'd certainly expect that when we get into the Superpole session
14:27and everyone's using their Q tyre that they will make that big step forward.
14:32Yes, the Q tyre being brought back in.
14:34We didn't see it at Motorland Aragon
14:35where a much harder selection of tyre compounds were brought along by Pirelli.
14:40They've gone for softer compounds, including the Q tyre,
14:43for this weekend here in Portugal.
14:47Towards the half-way point in the session,
14:50Nicolo Bulliga in the seventh in the classification at the moment,
14:54looking for a bit of improvements.
14:57You can see Nicolo here on the brakes down into sixth.
14:59This is where it's so easy for the bike to get unsettled.
15:01You can see there for Bulliga when you speak to the riders about it,
15:04they say more often than not it's only going in a couple of metres too deep,
15:08but you're right on that limit and the bike gets itself unsettled
15:11trying to get it stopped into sixth.
15:13It's an easy place to make a mistake.
15:15And we tend to see a lot of crashes through there during the races
15:18because riders will try and save it and rescue it,
15:20but just not quite able to do that.
15:22Yes, pretty big moment there for Nicolo Bulliga under braking,
15:26the back wheel lifting off the ground.
15:29Remy Gardner showing some improvement.
15:31You could see some flags out there as well,
15:33some lack of adhesion flags down the run in towards Turn 1 as well.
15:36Couldn't quite see what the issue was, but for Remy,
15:40good lap there to put himself up into P4.
15:42Remy Gardner showing some good improvements.
15:44He'll be staying with TRT Yamaha,
15:47will be joined by the current Supersport World Championship leader,
15:50Stefano Manzi, for next season.
15:52We don't yet know what Dominic Egeta's plans are for the 2026 season,
15:56whether he'll go back to World Supersport,
15:59but we'll have to wait and see on that.
16:02We've got a yellow flag out at the moment, up at Turn 4.
16:06Ryan Vickers has hit problems up there.
16:10He's on the gravel around the outside of Turn 4.
16:14Frustrating weekend for Ryan,
16:16with the news he won't continue with the Moto Corsa Ducati team
16:20for next year.
16:21Ravgat Lioglu has gone quicker again,
16:23a 1.35, 2.02 in the book this time around.
16:29The Liga just been to improve.
16:31He's turning 8th place in the classification in this session,
16:34at the moment with eight and a half minutes to go.
16:36Improves to P2 across the line,
16:38all four tenths of a second down on top rack,
16:41with Alex Lowes third in the times.
16:44So Vassani up there behind him.
16:46So things pretty much following at the moment
16:48the form we saw in yesterday's free practice sessions.
16:52The team manager Ducati looking fairly calm on pit wall.
16:58Yeah, just leaving pits as well is Jonathan Ray as well.
17:01Ray hasn't put in a lap time yet after we saw him run off.
17:03the turn one, so we'll see what he's able to do
17:05whenever he gets out there and gets himself up to speed.
17:07It's good to see the Yamaha's up there inside the top five
17:09with Remy Gardner.
17:11Locatelli a little bit further down the order than he'd want,
17:13but you'd imagine he hasn't put in that quality simulation run yet.
17:18Locatelli at P11 at one place behind Andrea Iannone.
17:22This is what happened to Ryan Vickers up at turn four,
17:24just getting out of shape there on the entry and through the gravel
17:28but able to control things.
17:32Really tight looping left-hander,
17:34the fourth bend here at Estoril on the infield loop.
17:38Bautista comes through the Parabolica, the final turn,
17:42looking to improve his time for P6 at 1.36-2 at the moment.
17:46He saves two tenths of a second off that goes P3 behind his team.
17:50Ducatis trying to take the fight to Toprak,
17:56Razgat Lyonga, it's a familiar story so far this weekend here at Estoril.
18:01The BMW man just out of reach of the factory Ducatis.
18:06And the Bimotas leading Yamaha is currently Remy Gardner in P6.
18:12Michael van der Maart down in P13 at the moment.
18:14A slightly disappointing year to say the least for the Dutchman
18:18and he won't be returning to World Superbike next year.
18:22Big moment there under braking to say the least,
18:24goodness me, into turn one.
18:27Just about getting the bike stopped, I think,
18:29without it running out too wide onto the gravel.
18:32A la Jonathan Ray early in the session.
18:34Jonathan Ray now back up to speed and about to set a time.
18:37Yeah, Johnny's about to set a fast time as well.
18:39They should put him somewhere up in and around the top five
18:42and maybe even up ahead of the likes of Bautista.
18:45He's a good run through to the line.
18:46Third fastest there for Johnny.
18:47That's a really good luck just to jump straight off
18:50and put in a time like that.
18:51So his first lap of the 35s this weekend.
18:54Memories of Estoril for Jonathan Ray,
18:56the venue where he clinched that sixth world title in 2020
19:00on the Kawasaki.
19:01Speaking of Kawasaki, Garret Gerloff has just gone up into P5,
19:04the best we've seen from him so far this weekend.
19:07The American spoke to Garret yesterday as he was leading the circuit as well.
19:13And it's an interesting one for him because as the only rider out there in the Kawasaki,
19:17you don't really have that much that you're able to compare things to.
19:20He's able to get some information from what the Momodos are doing,
19:22but with such a different frame, it's a very different challenge.
19:26So he's looking back to previous year's data to be able to see what the Kawasaki riders were doing in different places.
19:32And the championship moves on so quickly that it's a real challenge
19:36whenever you're the only rider out there on a certain bike.
19:38Michael van der Mark, another big moment over the curves there,
19:41coming out of Turn 1, having run wide,
19:43seems to be struggling a little with the handling of the BMW.
19:46He managed to gather that moment up.
19:50Garret Gerloff improving here to P5.
19:53He's ahead of the two Bimotas now.
19:55It's Raskat Lioglu from Bulliger.
19:57Ray now up into P3 in this session,
19:59ahead of Bautista, as we just saw.
20:02Then the Kawasaki in fifth place,
20:04then the Bimotas.
20:05Still Remy Gardner in the top ten,
20:07along with Xavi Vierge,
20:09who's the leading Honda ahead of Sam Lowe's on the Mark BDS Ducati.
20:14Not as yet showing the pace that we saw at Aragon.
20:18Quick but frustrating season for Sam Lowe's so far.
20:22He's going to improve further here over the line.
20:25He does, he goes to P4 above Alvaro Bautista.
20:28Getting a little bit out of shape there under braking for Turn 1.
20:31It's Garloff showing improvements here.
20:36Very easy to lose it over those curves from the exit,
20:39as we saw from Michael van der Maer earlier on as well.
20:42He's going to be moving to passengers new, as we were saying,
20:45next year with Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Capucci moving to BMW for the 2026 season.
20:53Baptista will be moving, staying with Ducati moving to the Harley-Star team.
20:58Baptista goes back up into E3, 135.9.
21:02But Brasca and Dioglu still over four tenths of a second up on his championship rival,
21:07Nicolo Bulliga, at the moment.
21:10Here is Sam Lowe's.
21:13I'm going to see some improvements from the Mark BDS Ducati here down his deep tenth loads.
21:19He certainly does improve, he goes second.
21:21Impressive lap there from Sam Lowe's.
21:22Yeah, the big thing for Sam there is he's found three tenths of a second in the final sector as well.
21:26And you can see for him it is a sim for a shorter run there and able to give himself a chance to make that jump up,
21:36just like Yari Montella has done as well.
21:38So a good lap there from Montella.
21:40Yes, big improvement from Yari Montella.
21:42He's had a quiet week so far on the second of the Barney Ducatis.
21:46This is where the strategy comes into it for all the riders just trying to see what the best option is.
21:52If you want to go out there and try and use a Q tyre to give yourself that lap or if you want to try and go and do those longer runs.
21:58And you can see for Michael Rubin Rinaldi, didn't leave the pits at the start of the session
22:02and it looks like that's going to be the end of the session for him.
22:05Yes, Michael Rubin Rinaldi not leaving the pits on the Moto X Racing Yamaha so far in this session.
22:12So it will be no time for the number 12.
22:16And the other rider with no time set is Danilo Patrici.
22:20Who has the claw from this weekend.
22:24Had that injury.
22:26Alivierhe outside the top 10th road.
22:28Still quickest of the Hondas.
22:30Ike Lecuona still easing his way back into racing after those injuries in Hungary.
22:35Forced him to miss the last couple of rounds.
22:37Lecuona down in P14 and the times at the moment.
22:40Three battery Hondas out there this weekend with Tetsu Nakashima riding a third machine.
22:45And Vierke, big improvements on the Honda up into P4.
22:50This is Remy Gardner through turns at 9 and 10 over on the back of the course.
22:54The tightest part of the Estoril circuit.
22:57Then it's down into the Esses and towards the Parabolica.
23:01It's a long, long right-hander at the end of the lap.
23:04Yeah, Remy on for a personal best.
23:06Locatelli's on for a good lap as well.
23:08So the Yamaha's just starting to use those softer tires.
23:12Give themselves the last lap of the session to be able to try and move up the order.
23:16Obviously in a free practice session these times don't matter.
23:18They're just about giving you that confidence going into the Super Bowl session.
23:21In round about an hour and a half's time will be getting underway for that.
23:25It's just over 90 seconds of the session left to go.
23:28So the riders will be performing perhaps a final time attack here.
23:33It's looking down the timing between Xavi Vierke and Alvaro Bautista on the pace.
23:38Axel Bassani goes up to P3 as well with his best of the session.
23:42It's Rasgat Lioglu still at the top though ahead of Sam Lowe's.
23:45Bassani third, Bulliga in fourth place in the classification in FP3 at the moment.
23:51Looking down the times, nobody else on improving one.
23:54Remy Gardner does the best of all in the first sector.
23:58So looking to hit the Yamaha's up there as well.
24:01Jonathan Ray having slipped down to P10.
24:03We've not seen very much from Locatelli in this session, his teammate.
24:07He's in P6 at the moment.
24:09Batista comes across the line and doesn't improve his time.
24:14Still Rasgat Lioglu at the top with the fastest lap of the weekend so far.
24:19He's broken Jonathan Ray's lap record.
24:22Remy Gardner still on to improve here on the Yamaha.
24:27The third best in the first sector. He lost a couple of tenths there.
24:31As we've just said, it is not a competitive session.
24:35It's all about setting the bike up for that Super Pole session.
24:39But worth perhaps doing a time attack, just testing tyres ahead of Super Pole later on.
24:46See what Remy Gardner can do here looking to improve.
24:49Comes up towards the line.
24:50Yeah, it's also about being able to see what that tyre life is like over the course of a stint as well.
24:55We saw in last year's Super Pole race plenty of riders able to use that queue tyre including the race winner Nikola Bulaga.
25:01So for a lot of teams and riders they'll know that that's the option they're going to have to use in tomorrow's short race.
25:07So Remy Gardner went up to P3 with that lap of 1.35.57.
25:11Is Toprak going to improve his final lap? I don't think he is.
25:14About a tenth of a second down in the third sector on his record lap from earlier in this session.
25:20The chequered flag is now out on Free Practice 3.
25:23It will be Toprak who is quickest at 1.35.6 on his final lap.
25:28Bringing the classification fairly shortly as the final few riders come in to take the chequered flag.
25:35But Toprak still with the edge clearly on his championship rival, Nicolo Bulaga.
25:41With a fairly quiet run for Alvaro Bautista in that section down in the lower reaches of the top ten on times.
25:53Things largely following the form that we saw in FP1 and 2.
25:57We'll see if Alex Lowes could improve. No, he doesn't.
26:00P7 for Alex with a personal best in this session.
26:03Remy Gardner breaking the order we saw yesterday and Sam Lowes up there in P2.
26:08So a big improvement from the VDS man.
26:11Now Bulaga comes in to take the chequered flag.
26:14Yeah, it looks like Bulaga is out there on his race tires as well.
26:17So that's why he's a little bit further down the order like you'd expect.
26:20But for Bulaga, we know that in a Super Pole session he's going to be strong and he's going to be a contender for that pole.
26:25But it's going to be a good Super Pole session whenever you see the confidence that Razgatiyogvu has a new lap record in this session.
26:31And obviously after yesterday's longer run pace is well able to show what he can do in the race run.
26:37You can see here through turns 9 and 10 for Bulaga the slow corners up at the top of the hill.
26:45This is where the change of direction is really important.
26:47The final sector around this track is really tricky for the riders.
26:51This is where a lot of lap time is made because it turns 9, 10, 11, 12 and then the long turn 13 at the end of the lap.
26:57So this is really the section of the track where if you're going to generate a lap time, you need to be strong through that part of the track.
27:05Nikolo Bulaga certainly looking strong so far this weekend but not quite strong enough.
27:13Toprak still with that slight edge so far this weekend.
27:17Bulaga getting fastest in FP2.
27:19The one to impress in that session was Remy Gardner showing some good pace on the GRT Yamaha.
27:27Nice little stoppy there at the end of the session.
27:29There'll be one or two practice starts.
27:31There's our wild card this weekend as well.
27:33Bobby Fong came close to the Moto America title this year for the Attack Performance Yamaha team.
27:39Their first appearance in World Superbike since back in 2022.
27:43Bobby Fong towards the foot of the time so far.
27:45Yeah, it looked like Bobby there just making a bit of an apology to Ian One there for something out on track.
27:51But certainly for the riders now it's about gearing up for Superpole in just over an hour and a half's time.
27:57So around about 11 o'clock local time, that's when we'll be on the way for the session that conditions everything.
28:01If you're able to qualify well, you can have a good race weekend.
28:04This is where the pressure really builds on the riders in the time before the qualifying session.
28:08So this is where teams need to find those small solutions and small steps.
28:14Toprak instantly into a debrief with Phil Marron back in his pick box.
28:19We see his style through that tight section at turns 9 and 10 up at the back of the course.
28:26Looking as smooth as he always does through there.
28:29It tends to be at the end of the straights we see Toprak with the rear wheel off the ground.
28:35Yeah, Toprak's a rider that his style is very dependent on what the bike is allowing him to do as well.
28:41Where he's got that engine brake and working well.
28:44That's whenever he feels really comfortable and confident.
28:46And a lot of times for the engine braking it's about allowing you just to drag that bike into the corners.
28:51And in that top part of the track Toprak's able to do that very well.
28:55The slower corners definitely always playing into his strength but turn 8 and 9 always where he's able to find some lap time.
29:01Toprak Razgatlioglu tops free practice three here at the ECMA Esteril round ahead of San Lowe's on the Mark VDS Ducati.
29:09New lap record for Toprak on the BMW.
29:12Remy Gardner at the top Yamaha in third.
29:14Four different manufacturers in the top four places with Axel Bassani in fourth position.
29:20Jonathan Ray showed good pace early on athlete Garret Gerloff.
29:25They slip back to 12th and 13th in the times.
29:28I thought Ruben Rinaldi failing to set a time.
29:38That's going to be on with that new lap record at top on combined times.
29:42That's everyone improving in that third session of the weekend.
29:47Remy Gardner impressive up there in P3.
29:52Remy Gardner is on the top rack in the early stages and able to ease off followed by a final time attack single lap at the end of the session.
30:21Similarly for Sam Lowe's with a shorter run for him early on.
30:28A longer couple of runs for Remy Gardner playing off with that P3.
30:36In terms of sector analysis the first sector running up towards turn three it was Gardner who was quickest through there.
30:52Sector two runs through the infield loop and up towards turn six Sam Lowe's on the Mark BDS machine the fastest through there.
31:10Sector three up towards turns nine and ten top rack the quickest there.
31:13Final run through the parabolic and no surprise to see top rack the fastest through the final part of the mark.
31:22That concludes free practice three here at Estoril.
31:39Join us for Tissot SuperPol at 11am.
31:41We'll see you next time at 11am.
31:42We'll see you next time at 11am.
31:48We'll see you next time.
31:50Bye.
31:53Bye.
31:54Bye.
31:55Bye.
31:57Bye.
31:58Bye.
Recommended
49:47
|
Up next
50:01
40:40
1:36:29
1:23:16
20:02
55:47
55:22
11:10
14:41
14:30
19:19
13:14
13:05