Donington WSBK: Gerloff leads Rea in Friday practice

Fresh off his MotoGP race debut at Assen last weekend, American rider Gerloff lapped the Donington circuit in 1m27.524s at the death of the second practice session, overhauling Rea's FP1 benchmark of 1m27.841s.

Gerloff and Rea were the only two times to break the 1m28s barrier across the two sessions, with the latter's FP2 lap of 1m27.853s fractionally slower than the time with which he topped the first practice earlier in the day.

Toprak Razgatlioglu, who will remain with the factory Yamaha team for the next two seasons, ended up third overall with a last-gasp effort of 1m28.048s. The Turkish rider was Rea's top challenger in FP1 earlier, ending second in that session with a 1m28.105s.

Alex Lowes established an early 1-2 for Kawasaki in second practice but his final time of 1m28.131s was ultimately good for only fourth overall, six tenths off the pace of Gerloff's Yamaha.

Former MotoGP rider Scott Redding placed the factory Ducati fifth in the combined timesheets after setting his best time of 1m28.150s with less than two minutes to remain in FP2.

BMW ace Tom Sykes made it four different manufacturers in the top six with a 1m28.202s flyer that was set in the morning session, with the 2013 champion unable to improve on that effort in second practice later in the afternoon.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi, who scored a double win at Misano last time around, finished just two tenths adrift of his Ducati teammate Redding in seventh, as Leon Haslam was Honda's top runner in eighth.

Puccetti Kawasaki rider Lucas Mahias was classified ninth, while Michael van der Mark completed the top 10 on the second of the factory BMWs.

GoEleven Ducati rider Chaz Davies could only manage the 12th quickest time behind the factory Yamaha of Andrea Locatelli, finishing more than 1.5s off the pace in FP2.

Honda rider Alvaro Bautista was also unusually off the pace, finishing 14th and 15th in the two sessions with a best time of 1m29.568s.

Elsewhere, Gerloff's GRT Yamaha teammate Kohta Nozane has been declared unfit for the weekend after suffering a hairline fracture to his right hand's middle finger during testing at the Navarra Circuit. The Japanese rider completed just four laps in FP1 before sitting out the rest of the session.

Ahead of WSBK's first visit to Donington in two years, Pedercini Racing and Samuele Cavalieri announced that they've split with immediate effect. Luke Mossey has been called in as his replacement at Donington Park but has not been confirmed for the remainder of the year. The British rider ended the day 17th quickest in FP2.

FP1 results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1'27.841
2	54	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	1'28.105	0.264
3	66	Tom Sykes	BMW	1'28.202	0.361
4	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	1'28.560	0.719
5	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	1'28.681	0.840
6	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'28.814	0.973
7	91	Leon Haslam	Honda	1'28.843	1.002
8	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1'29.028	1.187
9	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	1'29.104	1.263
10	7	Chaz Davies	Ducati	1'29.172	1.331
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FP2 results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	1'27.524
2	1	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1'27.853	0.329
3	54	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	1'28.048	0.524
4	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1'28.131	0.607
5	45	Scott Redding	Ducati	1'28.150	0.626
6	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	1'28.324	0.800
7	91	Leon Haslam	Honda	1'28.395	0.871
8	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	1'28.462	0.938
9	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	1'28.549	1.025
10	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	1'28.594	1.070
View full results