Davies edges Rea to top FP2

Full Laguna Seca WorldSBK FP2 times

Chaz Davies has taken top spot off Jonathan Rea at the end of Friday practice at Laguna Seca with Aruba.it Racing Ducati team-mate Alvaro Bautista keeping in close contention by rising up to third at the end of second practice.

The Welsh rider surged to the front in the closing minutes of FP2 during the late time attack to set the fastest time of the day with a 1m 23.387s to beat FP1 timesheet-topper Rea’s best effort of 1m 23.419s.

Rea, who takes a 24-point lead into the United States round, has World Superbike title rival Bautista right behind him on the times with the Spanish rider taking third place to show Laguna Seca remains a promising hunting ground for the new Ducati V4 R following the success of its predecessor the Panigale R.

2013 World Superbike champion Tom Sykes has also enjoyed a strong start to his weekend with fourth place for the factory BMW squad as Rea’s Kawasaki team-mate Leon Haslam rounded out the top five as he makes his first return to the track for four years.

Loris Baz led the Yamaha charge on the Ten Kate-run bike in sixth place ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu on the Kawasaki Puccetti machine, with Alex Lowes in eighth place for Pata Yamaha.

Jordi Torres claimed ninth place for Pedercini Kawasaki as Sandro Cortese narrowly beat GRT Yamaha team-mate Marco Melandri to round out the top 10.