Razgatlioglu once again showed real pace and confidence on the new 2020 Pata Yamaha R1 by finishing only 0.292 seconds from the fastest time, despite also working for long periods on used tyre pace and bike balance to carry into the three races at Phillip Island this coming weekend.
After a strong two days on track for Yamaha’s Official Team, van der Mark was satisfied with the seventh fastest lap, having focused on overall race pace and making final technical preparations – which included two very encouraging full distance race simulations.
Razgatlioglu set 123 laps in total against his main rivals, and van der Mark would have posted more than the 103 he ended up with were it not for suffering a crash earlier today in the final sector, on a lap that would have seen him challenge the outright best. He recovered well to get to within one-tenth of his personal best time, set in FP3 this morning, in the final session after some slick work in the pits from his technical crew.
The 4.445km long Phillip Island circuit witnessed light rain at times on day one, and several red flag incidents, but the team made the best of their available track time at a circuit which has a reputation for being very tough on tyre durability, especially on the left side.
With the potential for high tyre wear in mind, technical solutions and adjustments to riding styles were much more of a focus today than going for any class leading single lap time, after Razgatlioglu had been the fastest rider of all on day one.
Now the attention of the Pata Yamaha with Rizla team is to focus on making a good start to the race weekend, on Friday 28 February, to prepare for the first race of what appears to be shaping up as an exciting new season on Saturday 29.