It was another dominant day for Toprak Razgatlioglu at Autodrom Most with the Turkish rider taking home his 10th win of the season. Razgatlioglu finished 5.740s ahead of Danilo Petrucci. Despite the gap, Petrucci seems to have found some harmony with his Ducati V4R this year. With the finish Petrucci secured his second podium finish this year with the first occurring during the season opening round. Petrucci was able to hold off a charging Andrea Iannone who finished one tenth behind for P3.
Bautista Charges After P10 Start
Alvaro Bautista made a sensational recovery after having a less than stellar Superpole outing leving him down in 10th place for the start of the race. He said, “The fourth place is a good result in light of the starting position. I have to say, though, that the feeling with the bike was slightly less than I felt during free practice. I don’t know if losing the left wing due to contact with Petrucci (Ducati) at the first chicane had an effect but we’ll certainly have to study the data well to take a step forward tomorrow.”
Race 1 Results from Autodrom Most
Following the announcement that Tarran Mackenzie will miss this weekend’s World Superbike Round at Most. Reigning MotoAmerica King of the Baggers and Stock 1000 champion Hayden Gillim will fill in as a replacement for the Englishman this weekend at Most. The Englishman suffered a nasty crash at turn 7 at Donington Park in superbike race 1 which rendered him unconscious briefly. Per medical protocol he was not able to continue racing that weekend.
Gillim has reportedly made the trip after some hurdles associated with his passport. Action for the next World Superbike Round at Most Kicks off this Friday at 4:20 a.m. (Eastern time).
Toprak Razgatlioglu extended his championship lead this weekend by securing the hat trick winning all three races this weekend. He was mostly untouchable this week setting the tone and pace that the rest of the field only could attempt to match. After a dominant race 1 win Razgatlioglu wasn’t finished. The margins by which he won all three races were in the 4+ second range reaching almost to 12 seconds. If dominance doesn’t describe that performance nothing else does.
“I am feeling incredible now because before I came here, I had the target to get three wins, as this is my favorite track, and finally we did that here. This is team work and the team is working really hard. We improved the bike every session. I am strong but my BMW M 1000 RR was also working incredibly on this circuit. With my BMW I am really stronger here. The bike is working, easy stopping, easy turning. The grip is not 100 percent but the bike is helping me to show my potential. We are happy, because at Misano we had three wins and we repeated that here. Now I hope that we will also win at Most because I love the track there. Thanks to everyone, I am really happy today. Now we will see how the next round will go but we are coming closer to the world championship title step by step. Let’s wait, there are many more races to go.”
It’s clear that Razgatlioglu had some synergy at Donington Park. He was the man to beat all weekend and has solidified himself at the front as this years championship favorite. He currently holds a 41 point lead of Nicolo Bulega who was able to secure two podiums this weekend but fell short in race 1.
Championship Standing After Donington Park
Toprak Razgatlioglu secured his 46th win today at Donington Park in dominant fashion for race 1 of the weekend. Toprak dominated the race winning by over 11 seconds after leading from the pole. However, today’s story surrounds Alex Lowes who secured a podium for Kawasaki Racing. Lowes has had glimpses of success this season with 2 wins in Australia and two other podiums at the Dutch and Italian rounds. Lowes made his return tot he podium finish P2 behind Razgatlioglu.
“I felt quite confident on Friday as the bike was working well, and in FP3 this morning we tried some race settings and my pace was strong right until the end of the session. In Superpole I was fast enough to be on the front row but I touched the track limits green paint into T9, with a qualifying tire on the back. That was my mistake, but with that small difference it moved us from third on the grid to ninth. I thought that was maybe my chance of a good result gone but I tried to make a good start and stick in there near the front. It was not easy to pass so I was waiting for the guys in front to sort of make a mistake. Scott made one, I could pass, Bulega ran a bit wide and I went inside him. When I had clear track my lap times were fast, I was quite consistent but I was a bit concerned when Bautista was coming closer at the end, because we know how fast he at the end of races. I felt good, the bike felt good. The front end was moving a bit, so maybe we can improve on that for tomorrow. But I have to be happy with second today because Toprak was in a different race.”
Bulega Moves Backward
Unfortunately for Nicolo Bulega his P2 starting position didn’t grant him any favors in Race 1. Despite a bad start Bulega was able to squeeze a P4 finish behind teammate Alvaro Bautista who finished in third. The pair shared their comments after the race.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #1) P3 Race 1
“At the end, I can say I had fun starting from a position that was not easy. The choice of rear tire gave me an advantage even though in the first laps it was necessary not to force the pace so as not to ruin the tire. We did what we could even if it is clear that we are far from the last year’s levels. It will be important tomorrow to recover positions also in SPR to start further ahead.”
Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #11) P4 Race 1
“I am quite satisfied even if this weekend the feeling with the bike is not at the level of the previous rounds. I had some problems on the front but that didn’t prevent me from having a good race even because this was my first time at Donington with the Panigale V4R.”
Full Race 1 Results from Donington Park
World Superbike returns this weekend with Toprak Razgatlioglu getting things started off on day one at Donington Park by setting the fastest time in practice; a 1m25.013 lap. Razgatlioglu, who leads the championship was eager to get things started this weekend when he said “I’m really happy to return to Donington because this circuit is my favourite track. I am very positive. Last year, I was fighting a lot with the Ducatis but this year it is completely different because now I ride the BMW and the bike is stronger on the straight and in the corners. I am also getting adapted to it now; we still are not at 100 percent but we are getting better every race weekend. Especially the recent wins at Misano showed that I am getting stronger, but now we will see how it will be at Donington.
I never say a lot before the race. I just say that it is my favorite circuit, I will just try to do my best again like I did at Misano, and I hope that we will win again. Usually, I’m very strong on this circuit but we will see how it will be with the BMW M 1000 RR as it will be the first time that I ride it there. In general, my feeling is positive, the team keeps working hard and doesn’t stop, I am working every day, I go to the gym and I go to the track, I’m riding the bicycle, I’m pushing in training every day. I am fully ready for the race weekend.”
Free Practice 2 Results
Toprak Razgatlioglu took the lead in the World Superbike championship with a win in race 1 at Misano for the Emilia Romagna Round. However, he wasn’t finished there. Razgatlioglu went on to win both the Superpole Race and Race 2 securing the first hattrick of the season. Razgatlioglu left the weekend with a healthy points lead over Nicolo Bulega and a new stroke of confidence. After race 2 he said, “Before the weekend, I said that it’s my target to get three wins this weekend. Finally I did it. Thank you very much to my team because they did an incredible job this weekend. Especially today, we again improved the bike and I felt more relaxed on it. I really enjoyed the final race especially. It wasn’t an easy race for anyone because of the hot conditions. Everyone was sliding more. But we did a really great job. This is team work because I can not win on my own. Everyone really works hard and now we finally took three wins on a weekend. And it looks like this is just the start. Thanks to everybody!”
Bulega Triple Podium Keeps Him in Title Fight
While Bulega couldn’t quite break the ceiling for the top spot he walked away with 3 podium finishes on the weekend. He said, “I am thrilled. Competing for the first time in Misano with the Superbike and finishing all races in second place is, without a doubt, a great result, even though winning would have been a dream. Anyway, I have to say congratulations to Toprak because he has been really fast. Now we will head to Donington, a circuit that I like a lot.”
Championship Standings After Misano
World Superbike returns to on track action after a long break since Round 3 at TT Assen for the Dutch Round. Its been relatively quiet in the World Superbike world this year. However one man who will be looking to repeat his past success at Misano for the Emilia Romagna Round will be Alvaro Bautista. Despite a slow start to the 2024 season the long break between round 3 and 4 heavily benefitted him allowing him to fully heal from any lingering ailments he was suffering from after last seasons late injury. Alvaro Bautista has dominated World Superbike for the past two years and is looking to complete the hat trick in 2024.
Toprak Razgatlioglu Tops Day 1
Toprak Razgatlioglu had highs a lows on day 1 of the Misano round. Despite crashing, Razgatlioglu topped the charts on the day to lead the field into Superpole tomorrow. Razgatlioglu offered his thoughts, “It looks like we are ready to race to the podium, if we don’t face any problems. I have the feeling that we are very strong because the last test was really good. My target for the weekend is to get three wins but the races are always a different story. We will see. I will try to give my best and I am feeling really positive.”
After Day 1 ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team Team Principal Shaun Muir said: “I think we can continue that form. I don’t see any reason why not. We’ve got that tire, that chassis and that setup and that package that can take us the full race distance, so that’s the expectation. Toprak’s confidence is super high. Equally, Michael’s riding on the back of that as well, so hopefully we can take that forward. For me, I think we can expect to see Toprak moving towards the front very quickly. My focus is to see Michael following him towards the front quickly.”
FP2 Misano Results
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) participated in the Crmeona testing event this week and offered first thoughts regarding the circuit and its technicality. Bulega stated, “This is the standard bike and there’s a big difference to my race bike. I like the track. It’s a very technical circuit, you have to be very precise. It’s a good layout. I hope to be competitive everywhere, not only at Cremona! I came here just to learn the track with the standard bike. We’ll come here with the official bike, so I wanted to have a day of testing, go on the track and when I already know the bike with the official bike.”
Rinaldi commented on the changes the track has seen over the years. “The track has changed. I was here about eight years ago and they’ve made some improvements. It’s not such a fast track so it’s important for us to have a good test because the base setup for everybody needs to be adjusted. It’ll be something different for the Championship.”
World Superbike is on a long break at the moment as the riders await the next round at the Emilia Romagna Round in Italy at Misano.
MotoGP returns this weekend for the Catalan Grand Prix. With the title race wide open currently valuable points are up for grabs as Jorge Martin continues his charge for the championship. Martin leads two time MotoGP champion Francesco Bagnaia by 38 points heading into the weekend. Bagnaia will desperately want to outscore Martin to cut the lead down. Actions gets started this Friday.
The Full Race Weekend Schedule is Below
Image Courtesy of Dorna
After starting the Superpole race in P7, Alvaro Bautista surged to the front making a series of sensational passes. The track conditions were dry and sunny providing the riders with optimum track conditions. Despite starting on pole, Jonathan Rea slipped behind going into the first turn of the race. He continued to move backward before finding an equilibrium and finished P5 from pole. Rea failed to improve on his result of P5 in race 1. In race 2 he finished P19, a disappointing finish to the weekend. Alex Lowes finishing third in Superpole.
Race 2
In race 2 Toprak Razgatlioglu took the win which shook up the championship point standings helping Alvaro Bautista to move into the top spot and Razgatlioglu ending the weekend 6 points back in second place. “Race 2 was like all weekend, really tricky and difficult because conditions were really changing,” Baustista said. “In the morning Superpole Race, I had a good feeling with the bike, and I could push 100%. The conditions were more stable than the rest of the weekend. It was the first time we had normal conditions. I enjoyed it, especially the first laps where I battled a lot with other riders to make a really impressive comeback. In the afternoon, I had a good start.
I tried to keep my pace. I was quite confident, making good lines, but then it started to rain a little bit and it basically never stopped lightly raining during the race. In one part of the race, it started to rain a bit harder in some areas. We slowed down a little bit, then, after I tried to push again, I think the rear tire cooled down too much and I couldn’t get the temperature to push at the end, so I didn’t have the same feeling as the start of the race. To finish on the podium was important. It’s been a really tough weekend.”
Razgatlioglu wasn’t available for comment after race 2 regarding his win.
Superpole Race Results from Assen
Assen Race 2 Results