Rea fends off Bautista as rain disappears

Full Misano World Superbike warm-up results

Following the wet and wild opening Misano race, the summer sunshine has returned to the Rimini circuit with the same name topping the timesheet with Jonathan Rea keeping ahead of World Superbike title rival Alvaro Bautista in warm-up.

The Misano race one winner produced a late 1m 35.814s following quick set-up tweaks during the 15-minute session to edge out a 0.163s gap on Bautista who remained out on track throughout the short session for Aruba.it Racing Ducati.

Rea will be eager to maintain his Misano form to keep chipping into Bautista’s championship lead, which was trimmed to 32 points in race one, but the deficit could have been smaller if riders ahead of the World Superbike points leader didn’t tumble off in the wet conditions.

One of those looking to make amends is Alex Lowes after crashing from the lead in race one, as he ended warm-up third-fastest and 0.275s off Rea, while he remains the sole-surviving Pata Yamaha rider after team-mate Michael van der Mark suffered a fractured wrist, ribs and concussion in a heavy FP2 high-side.

Another race one faller, Toprak Razgatlioglu, claimed fourth place in warm-up for Puccetti Kawasaki having crashed out on the final lap yesterday.

Sandro Cortese jumped into fifth place late on for GRT Yamaha with a final flying lap to push Tom Sykes, second in the wet race, into sixth place for BMW.

With Chaz Davies (Ducati) seventh and Leon Haslam (Kawasaki) eighth, wildcard Michele Pirro surged into ninth place on the Barni Ducati as Loris Baz rounded out the top 10 for Ten Kate Racing Yamaha following his eye-catching fourth place in the opening race.