The sun was out in abundance for WorldSBK morning Warm Up at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, with the eighth round of the season into its final race day of the weekend. Without big names such as Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) after his FP2 fall and six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) after his Race 1 crash on the opening lap, it’s a depleted field for the last day of action. As well as that, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) is injured with a collarbone contusion but declared fit nonetheless. Warm Up itself took place as a wet session but with the sun beating down, the track dried throughout the ten-minute session with… taking control at the top.
With only ten riders setting lap times, reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was back on top of the running in the damp conditions, heading home a Ducati 1-2 with Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in second place. Always a dark horse in tricky conditions, Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONIAS MIE Honda Racing) completed the top three, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), making it four Ducatis in the top five.
Super-sub Alessandro Delbianco (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) carried on his top ten form from Race 1 on Saturday with P6 in Warm Up on Sunday, taking top Yamaha honours too. He was ahead of teammate Remy Gardner, whilst Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) made it a trio of Yamahas. Ivo Lopes (PETRONIAS MIE Honda Racing) took P9 with Nicolo Bulega going out for some laps but finishing tenth. Everybody else remained in pitlane, including no action at all from the Team HRC box, Race 1 winner Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) or Race 1 leader Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).
Top six after WorldSBK Warm Up, full results here:
1 Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’52.742
2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.441s
3. Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) +1.648s
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) +1.749s
5. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +1.963s
6. Alessandro Delbianco (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +2.283s
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Source: WorldSBK.com