Tissot Superpole Highlights: Sixth pole of the season for Toprak
Early morning rain drenched the 4.182km Estoril circuit and left tricky conditions for the Superpole session.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) waited until his final lap to set the fastest time. His 1’52.430 secured his sixth pole position of the campaign and the 18th of his career.
A mistake on his final lap cost Danilo Petrucci the fastest time but the Barni Spark Racing Team rider could still claim his third front row start of the season. Qualifying in second position, just 0.082s slower than Razgatlioglu’s time, was also Petrucci’s best Superpole performance of the season.
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati duo of Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista qualified fifth and 11th fastest respectively.
It was a strong qualifying effort by Pata Prometeon Yamaha with Jonathan Rea claiming his second front row start of the campaign in third position. Andrea Locatelli notched up his best Superpole performance of the season by setting the fourth fastest time.
Race 1: Razgatlioglu gets back to winning races.
Having missed six races due to his French Round injuries Razgatlioglu had to wait a further three races to get back to winning races. The Turkish rider was the lone rider in the field who opted for the harder SC0 Pirelli tyre. In the early stages of the race Razgatlioglu was involved in a battle with Locatelli and Petrucci for the lead but by the fifth lap he asserted his authority and moved into the lead. His winning margin of nine seconds showed his dominance of the opening race of the weekend.
Having started from the second row Bulega dropped as low as seventh, an early race clash with Jonathan Rea proved costly, but the title contender gradually eased his way back into contention. By half distance he had claimed second position by taking advantage of a crash for Bautista. The second half of the race was about managing the gap to his pursuers.
Bautista’s Lap 10 crash at Turn 9 on Lap left him 106 points behind Razgatlioglu and the double champion is now out of title contention.
A great start from the second row of the grid saw Locatelli move into the lead on Lap 2. It was a stunning start from the Yamaha rider but at two thirds he crashed at Turn 7.
The closing stages of the race distilled into a battle for the final step on the podium. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) rode well to finish third. The podium finish was Honda’s first of the season and the Spanish rider’s first since the 2022 Dutch Round. For the tenth consecutive race Honda finished with both riders inside the Top 10 . Coming from the fifth row of the grid showed Lecuona’s speed and race craft.
Championship highlights
Razgatlioglu holds a 44 points championship advantage over Bulega. With five races remaining in the WorldSBK season there are 99 points still available.
P1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
“I took a gamble in this race to use the SC0 tyre. During the race, I realised it was the right decision because my pace was great. It’s incredible to win again. We need to improve a few things for tomorrow and I hope to fight for the win in the next two races. The weather tomorrow looks a bit strange again. We might have rain in the morning and then a dry afternoon. We’ll see what happens but I’m ready for both conditions. This is a very important race weekend for me because I need good points but my main focus is to win the race!”
P2 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“Race 1 was my first full dry session of the weekend. In the first few laps, I had to figure out some things about my bike. But overall it wasn’t bad. I made a great comeback after Jonathan pushed me back at Turn 2. I stayed calm and tried to recover. Toprak was really fast again today. Second place was the best result I could have achieved.”
P3 | Iker Lecuona | Team HRC
“When I arrived in the pit lane, I started to cry. This has been a very hard year for me. I had doubts about whether I’m good enough to be here and I’ve had to deal with so many injuries over the last few years. Finally, we had the pace to be on the podium, and here we are. I want to thank everyone who has kept supporting me! My team did a great job and they believed in me. I hope this isn’t our last podium!”
WorldSBK Race 1 Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +9.221s
3. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +11.020s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +11.973s
5. Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +14.018s
6. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +17.727s
Fastest lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW – 1’37.149s
Championship Standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 439 points
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 395 points
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 333 points
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’52.512s
2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.082s
3. Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.509s
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©Words/Images are from official press release posted courtesy of WorldSBK.com
