WorldSBK: More than 52,000 fans attended Donington Park over the weekend as the UK Round came to a close, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) completing a hat-trick and seizing the WorldSBK championship lead for the first time in the 2025 season.
Race 2 Highlights
Starting from pole position Razgatlioglu took command of the race from the outset and led all 23 laps. He opened a margin of over two seconds at one third distance and then controlled the race thereafter.
Bulega, using the softer SCX tyre, made a poor start and dropped to fifth position on Lap 1. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati rider edged past his rivals in the first four laps and chased Razgatlioglu for the majority of the race but struggled in the closing stages for grip.
In those final laps his teammate, Alvaro Bautista, pulled back over three years and the fight went to the final corner. It was settled in Bulega’s favour but Bautista’s recovery ride was his best of the weekend.
Fourth position was the reward for Andrea Locatelli as the Pata Maxus Yamaha continued his run of top five finishes in each of the last six races. He held a two second lead from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) who battled throughout the race in the fight for the top six positions.
Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) started from the front row courtesy of his Superpole Race podium. A strong start to the race saw the Englishman pursue Razgatlioglu in the early stages before a crash at Redgate brought his weekend to a halt.
Championship Highlights
- With six victories in a row Razgatlioglu has moved to the top of the standings for the first time in 2025. Nicolo Bulega, leader of the standings since the opening race of the season, has now fallen four points adrift with five rounds remaining
- Following BMW’s three victories Ducati’s advantage in the Manufacturers’ Standing has been reduced to 29 points
P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
“It’s been an amazing weekend. The weekend didn’t start well on Friday but everyone has worked really hard and we kept improving. The team worked hard on our electronics and all the mechanics, worked so hard. We improved our feeling in the final sector and I’m really happy about that. This is my last weekend at Donington Park racing in WorldSBK so I’m really happy to take the hat trick of wins. That was my biggest target this weekend and I’m really happy we achieved it.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“The first part of the race was very difficult. My start wasn’t great and I lost a lot of time early on. It was hard to try to stay with Toprak and he pulled a big gap in the first few laps. After that, my pace wasn’t so bad but the second part of the race was tough trying to stay ahead of Alvaro. I had the softer tyre, so in the final laps it was really difficult because he was very strong. On the last lap, I heard his engine behind me and I just tried to stay ahead. In the end, second place is a good result.”
P3 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“I’m quite happy. I started to feel much better in the second half of Race 2. When the bike gets lighter, as the fuel load drops, it’s a bit easier for me. This is especially the case at a track like this because there are lots of fast and flowing corners. Lap by lap I felt better and I saw I wasn’t losing time to the guys in front. Then, I started to catch them and with two laps to go I pushed really hard in the final chicane. I went a bit wide and lost three tenths and this meant that I missed my chance on the last lap. I tried until the end and I’m happy because I gave everything.”
Race 2 Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.946s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +3.135s
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +10.724s
5. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +12.401
6. Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) +13.419s
Fastest Lap: Nicolo Bulega, Ducati – 1’25.961s
Championship Standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 345 puntos
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 341
3. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) 209
4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 194
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) 188
6. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) 131
Tissot Superpole Race Highlights
Razgatlioglu led from pole position from the first corner and opened a gap of over one second on Lap 2. The lead doubled the next tour and from that point onwards Razgatlioglu controlled the race to notch BMW’s 100th podium finish in WorldSBK.
Having started from the middle of the front row Bulega dropped behind the Pata Maxus Yamaha duo of Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli. He dispatched with them on the opening laps and was second after three laps but already two seconds adrift of the race leader.
Sam Lowes battled through a shoulder injury to bounce back from his bad luck in Race 1 to claim the second podium finish of his WorldSBK career. Lowes held off Bautista by half a second for the position.
Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) was the final points scorer in the ten lap Superpole Race and was rewarded with third row start behind Petrucci and Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team).
Superpole Race Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’25.666s
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2,804s
3. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +3.874s
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