Official Donington Park WorldSBK lap records:
Best lap:
Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki 1m 26.641s (2017)
Best race lap:
Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki 1m 27.166s (2019)

Jonathan Rea conquers the opening day of the 2022 Donington Park World Superbike event, as temperatures rise and lap times fall during Friday afternoon's Free P🍒rac♔tice 2.

After dominating the morning session until being beaten by Toprak Razgatlioglu on fresh rubber in the final minute, Rea set a scorching🍰 pace from the start ♍of FP2.

By the end of his opening run, the six-time world champion had set the best lap of the weekend so far and held a half-second a༒dvantage over nearest rival Scott Redding.

The middle stages then saw reigning champion Razgatlioglu, a double winner at Donington last season, rise to second despite&nb🎶sp;joining Iker Lecuona (FP1) in being left frustrated at losing time behind Philipp Oettl.

But, unlike ꦰthis morning, Rea responded in style -🐠 improving his fastest time in the closing minutes to push his ZX-10R a distant half-a-second clear of Razgatlioglu.

The session ended with Rea shadowingꦚ Razgatlioglu, getting a little sideways as he studied the Yamaha at close range through the Fogarty Esses.

Redding, using a new Kalex swingarm, was just a fraction behind Razgatlioglu for a competitive third&n♉bsp;on the BMW, ahead of Rea's team🌃-mate Alex Lowes.

Title leader Alvaro Bautista, tipp𒅌ed to face a 🉐tough challenge to match the likes of Rea and Razgatlioglu on the Ducati this weekend, completed the day in fifth place. Team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi, third in the morning, suffered a late fall on his way to sixth this afternoon.

Bautista will start Saturday's opening race with a 36-point l🔯ead over Rea and a 79-point lead over Razgatlioglu.

Leon Haslam (12th this morning) was again the best of the home wild-cards, this time in tenth. BSB ch꧙ampion Tarron Mackenzie was 15th with TT ace Peter Hickman 16th. Donington may be familiar ground for the British trio, but WorldSBK bike spec is significantly different to BSB.