WorldSBK: In front of a weekend attendance of 51,041 the French Round at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours was dominated by Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team made it twelve victories in a row today and extended his championship advantage to 39 points.
Race 2 Highlights
Razgatlioglu made the most of pole, sprinting into an early lead. With the harder front tyre the Turkish rider was patient in the opening laps before setting the fastest lap of the race on Lap 4 when he broke away from Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
The battle for the final step on the podium was a race long scrap. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) dropped to fifth position at one point. A mid-race scrap with Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) saw the six times World Champion briefly run in third position before Lowes asserted himself and opened a margin to his pursuers of over two seconds in the closing laps.
Coming from the fifth row of the grid Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) enjoyed a combative race to finish in fourth position. His scrap with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Rea for the closing laps was exciting and after a tough weekend Bautista had a comfortable margin at the flag of 2.4s.
Starting from the back of the grid after a Superpole crash Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) finished in ninth position. The Italian finished the race half a second behind Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) who struggled in the closing stages having fought for the podium in the early laps.
Championship Highlights
- With three victories and a perfect weekend Razgatlioglu extended his standings lead over Bulega to 39 points with nine races remaining
- Petrucci holds a 24 point advantage over Locatelli for third in the standings. The Italian rider also leads the Independent Rider standings
- BMW are now three points behind Ducati in the Manufacturers’ Standings
P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
“I’m very happy. The weekend has gone in the best way. We did a very good job yesterday but today was also very important and we managed another hat-trick. This means a lot because last year I didn’t ride here. The team has worked incredibly well. We’ve improved the bike for every session to make us faster. Today’s race was more difficult because there was less grip than yesterday but I was able to keep my rhythm and we finished the job.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It was a hard weekend. I took some points but not too many. It’s better than nothing. It’s not easy because we started this championship aiming to win, or at least fight for it, but at the moment it’s not possible. BMW and Toprak have found something and in the last races they’ve been much faster than at the start of the season. For us, using 100% of our package, it’s difficult to stay with them. We’ll try to improve for the next race and be closer to Toprak.”
P3 – Alex Lowes (Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team)
“It’s been a good weekend. The bike worked well throughout but the hotter conditions made the start tricky for me. You can see on the TV how well the bike changes direction and in some parts of the track I was really fast and able to make some good passes. It wasn’t easy in the heat but I’m happy to come away with three podiums.”
Race 2 Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +8.087s
3. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +12.123s
4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +13.806s
5. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +16.293s
6. Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +17.039s
Fastest lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) – 1’36.102s
Championship Standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 469 points
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 430 points
3. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) 260 points
Tissot Superpole Race Highlights
From the start Razgatlioglu ceded the lead to Bulega. The Ducati rider led for five corners before Razgatlioglu attacked and over the course of the ten lap race he took advantage of the battles behind him to open a lead of almost four seconds at the chequered flag.
It was an eventful race for Bulega. The Italian dropped to fourth position after running off track at Turn 15 at the end of teh second lap but he quickly made progress against Alex Lowes and Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team). On Lap 4 he had moved himself back into second position but had no answers for Razgatlioglu’s pace. A crash for Sam Lowes dropped him from the podium fight.
A race long fight was settled in Danilo Petrucci’s favour with the Barni Spark Racing Team rider finishing ahead of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). Fifth position for van der Mark matched his best result of the season.
A track limits penalty after the chequered flag dropped Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) to eighth position with Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) claiming seventh on the grid for Race 2.
Superpole Race Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +3.712s
3. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +7.674s
For more info checkout our dedicated WorldSBK (World Superbike) News page superbike-news.co.uk/category/world-superbikes/
Or visit the official World Superbike website worldsbk.com
©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of WorldSBK.com
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