Puccetti Kawasaki’s STK1000 star Toprak Razgatlioglu made a sensational WorldSBK debut today at the Portimao test, outpacing the works-backed Aprilia and Yamaha teams.

The Turkish rider, who will move into the big class at the start of next season, ended his day only a second off the best time set by champion-elect Jonathan Rea and was fractionally faster than Eugene Laverty and Michael van der Mark, who was second in yesterday’s race.

Razgatlioglu, who put in 62 laps over the day set a 1’43.249 compared to Laverty’s 1’43.257 with Yamaha’s van der Mark on a 1’43.330. He was also only a quarter of a second slower than former MotoGP star Marco Melandri. His time would have been fast enough for a place in the two of Superpole one on Saturday morning

Rea, unsurprisingly, was easily quickest, setting a 1’42.313, a tenth under Tom Sykes’ lap record from 2013. Sykes was absent from the test due to surgery on his broken hand yesterday morning. Rea spent the day working on some chassis set up as well as beginning work on the 2018 ZX-10RR.

Chaz Davies was second on a 1’42.711, three-tenths up on Melandri, who suffered a crash. Both the Ducati men worked on electronics and setup for the remainder of the season. Alex Lowes was seventh and 1.2s off the pace with Lorenzo Savadori, Jordi Torres - whose crash brought out the red flags - and Riccardo Russo completing the top ten.

Davide Giugliano ended the day last and 3.264s off the pace while evaluating a slightly revised version of the engine, along with some updates to the electronics and a new suspension link. He was a tenth slower than former works Ducati rider Michael Fabrizio on the Althea BMW.

Portimao WorldSBK test - conditions dry

1 1 J. REA GBR Kawasaki Racing Team Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1’42.313 53 161,575 302,5
2 7 C. DAVIES GBR Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati Panigale R 1’42.711 0.398 0.398 64 160,949 306,8
3 33 M. MELANDRI ITA Aruba.it Racing - Ducati Ducati Panigale R 1’43.017 0.704 0.306 65 160,471 305,1
4 54 T. RAZGATLIOGLU TUR Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1’43.249 0.936 0.232 62 160,110 300,8
5 50 E. LAVERTY IRL Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF 1’43.257 0.944 0.008 71 160,098 303,4
6 60 M. VAN DER MARK NED Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.330 1.017 0.073 83 159,985 301,7
7 22 A. LOWES GBR Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Yamaha YZF R1 1’43.517 1.204 0.187 46 159,696 300,0
8 32 L. SAVADORI ITA Milwaukee Aprilia Aprilia RSV4 RF 1’43.588 1.275 0.071 54 159,586 300,8
9 81 J. TORRES ESP Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR 1’43.602 1.289 0.014 70 159,564 300,8
10 84 R. RUSSO ITA Pedercini Racing SC-Project Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1’44.074 1.761 0.472 82 158,841 293,5
11 4 M. FABRIZIO ITA Althea BMW Racing Team BMW S 1000 RR 1’45.446 3.133 1.372 69 156,774 290,3
12 34 D. GIUGLIANO ITA Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team Honda CBR1000RR 1’45.577 3.264 0.131 61 156,580 295,1