#WorldSBK2022

[sbknews]

Alvaro Bautista secures 2022 WorldSBK crown

The 37 year-old rider secured the 2022 WorldSBK Riders’ Championship at Mandalika. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) fought hard during the 2022 season, resisting the charge of 2021 WorldSBK Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). He became WorldSBK’s 19th Champion, and the second Spanish rider to be crowned WorldSBK Champion after Carlos Checa in 2011; Checa was also Ducati’s last WorldSBK Champion. Bautista returned to Ducati for the 2022 season after two seasons away and did so in perfect fashion, taking his first win of the season in the Tissot Superpole Race at the season-opening Aragon Round. He also left MotorLand Aragon as the title leader following his Race 2 victory. Rea was able to fight back at Assen but that lasted for just one day as Bautista extended his lead again in Race 2, with the newly-crowned Champion leading the way from Assen’s Race 2 onwards. A Race 1 crash at Donington Park dented Bautista’s lead but he bounced back in style; taking 15 podiums in the 18 races that followed including a hat-trick at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. A crucial part of Bautista’s title-winning campaign was his fights with both Razgatlioglu and Rea, particularly with the 2021 Champion throughout the Estoril, Portuguese and Argentinean Rounds. Bautista began his career in the Spanish Championship from 1995 to 2002. In 2002, he was fighting for the title until the final race. In the same year, he made his first appearance in the FIM 125cc World Championship as a wildcard. He became a 125cc Grand Prix winner in 2006 at the Spanish GP. With eighth victories claimed that season, he secured his first World Championship title. The Spanish rider then moved up to the 250cc class, claiming 28 podium places including eight victories. Bautista stepped up to the FIM MotoGP™ World Championship in 2010. During his eighth seasons in MotoGP™, he claimed three podium places and one pole position, with a fifth place as his best classification in the Championship standings in 2012. In 2019, Bautista made his WorldSBK debut with Ducati, finishing his rookie season with 16 wins, 24 podium places, 4 pole positions and 15 fastest laps as he secured second place in the Championship standings. In 2020, he switched to Honda, racing for the Team HRC squad. Over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, he claimed three podium places for the Japanese manufacturer before returning to Ducati and the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team for the 2022 season. With 14 wins and 29 podium places, Alvaro Bautista became the 2022 WorldSBK Champion at Mandalika. Bautista becomes the ninth different rider to take a Riders’ Championship for Ducati with the Italian manufacturer securing their 15th Riders’ Championship overall. He’s the third different rider in three years to take the crown, as well as being from a third different country and on a third different bike, emphasising the competitive parity in WorldSBK. The newly crowned WorldSBK Champion will remain with Ducati in 2023 and both will aim to continue challenging many records.

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.It Racing - Ducati: “It’s incredible, I’m so happy. It’s a dream come true, especially after the last two years and all the difficulties. I want to say thanks to everyone who trusted me, to give me this chance to fight for good places and we got the Championship at the first time of trying. Today was the first time I felt a bit nervous or stressed, but it was in Race 2 on the grid before the start. I tried to manage the emotions and when I was in first, I was making a lot of mistakes because I had too many thoughts in my head! I just preferred to stay second behind Toprak, but he was very strong, so I could just follow him. So happy. It’s difficult to know what to say. I’m just so happy. During the whole season, I was so happy because I had a lot of experience from the past. I tried to be the best possible rider, not make mistakes. I think our performance has been really, really high. I think I had the best performance level ever from Toprak and Jonathan. They performed at a really high level in all races. I was lucky that I made fewer mistakes than them. What’s important is also consistency. I could beat Jonathan, a six-time World Champion and Toprak, a one-time Champion, breaking all the records at all the tracks which means the level is so high. We can win with this amazing level.” Giulio Nava, Bautista's Crew Chief: “We worked really hard for this; this team and Ducati. I’ve been working with Alvaro for many years and I’m super happy to be here with him, seeing him achieving these results. It means a lot. I’m very lucky to work with him. You create very a strong relationship together. We joke together. Alvaro is like my brother. It’s difficult for me to explain what it means, but it means the world to see him winning.” Luigi Dall’Igna, Ducati Corse General Manager: “It is a wonderful day for us. We worked a lot with Alvaro in the past and in 2019 we did a fantastic job until the middle of the season. In the end, we could not win the crown. Today, in the end, and it was a fantastic emotion. It was a special day. This is probably one of the best seasons of his life. This year, and 2006, were two really amazing seasons for him. He won the 2006 125cc World Championship and today he won WorldSBK. He’s a real fantastic rider and I’m really, really happy he could get the title today.”

World Championship Career: 2002-2006: 125cc - First Race: Spanish GP 2002 | Best result: P1 2007-2009: 250cc - First Race: Qatar GP 2007 | Best result: P1 2010-2018: MotoGP™ - First Race: Qatar GP 2010 | Best result: P3 2019-2022: WorldSBK – First Race: Australian Round 2019 | Best result: P1 2022: World Superbike Champion Rider Statistics First round: Phillip Island 2019 Race starts: 130 Wins: 30 Podium places: 56 Pole positions: 5 Fastest laps: 27 Title: 1

For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#AlvaroBautista #TheReturn #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022 #WorldSBK2022Champion

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Bautista claims last win of the 2022 season in shortened Race 2

The 2022 WorldSBK Champion claimed his 16th win of the season in the final race of the season. Race 1 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Starting from pole position following his Tissot Superpole Race win, Bautista claimed the last win of the 2022 season, his 16th overall this season. - He was leading Rea by 0.357s when the race was red flagged after 17 completed laps. - He scored a total of 601 points in his title winning season. “Today was amazing! In the Superpole Race, it was quite wet, but the experience I had from MotoGP™, I knew that it could maybe dry very fast. I took a big gamble because it was too wet. Race 2 was again so fun with the bike. Today, everything was normal so I could push from the beginning. I lost a lot of positions in the beginning and then I got the lead. To make my pace, the pace was quite acceptable, and Jonathan was just behind. I expected a big battle, especially in the last two laps, but unfortunately the red flag stopped the race. I think it has been the best way to end this amazing season. I’m so happy. Now we have to celebrate and now we have to prepare for next season.”

P2 - Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea finished second in Race 2 for his 245th podium place. - With 502 points, Rea finished in third place in the standings. “We know the result. I gave everything. We can be quite satisfied with our efforts this weekend to go 1-3-2. Good overall points for the weekend. The conditions were almost like nothing I’ve ever seen in my career! Tyre decisions, pit stops, red flag in Race 2 with the conditions coming in. From my weekend, I’m really happy with my team and the way I’m riding the bike. Even in Race 2 with Alvaro, I felt stronger everywhere but the start-finish line. They were taking so much time, but through Turn 1, Turn 2 and even Turn 3, with the traction, an area we’ve really struggled with in the past, I had more grip and the tyre was very linear. Big thanks to my team. Looking forward now to a little bit of rest before we start focusing on 2023. We can be satisfied with our work this year.” P3 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes took third place for his second podium of the weekend. - He finished the season with 272 points standing in sixth place in the Championship standings. "I'm really happy with the weekend, happy with the second podium this year. We've made some improvement in the middle of the year. I've been pretty competitive minus Mandalika, we've been strong every weekend. Today's race was good. I was nervous because the weather has been changing so fast. In the race I was trying to check the clouds and understand what was happening. In the mid-part of the race, Jonathan and Alvaro just got away a little bit. I had some battles with Toprak and I couldn't really get past him. And then I was trying to think about the end of the race, save some tyre to battle with him in the last two laps and then obviously we had the red flag. I really hope both of the guy are ok. But for me, it's been a good weekend, nice way to finish, it gives me some confidence going into winter and on to next season."

P4 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu was fourth missing the podium for 0.413s. - 529 points claimed this season gave Razgatlioglu second place in the standings. “We tried in every session to find good grip. We tried our best. In Race 2, after 10 laps, I felt a big drop with the rear tyre. I saw Alex pushing a lot, and after two laps I saw him starting to spin a lot. I thought 'ok in the last two laps, I'll pass him' and I saw the red flag. But I'm really happy for him. He needed a bonus because he has two babies! He's a very good guy and he was very strong this weekend. We finished the last race of the season in fourth position. Anyway, we're second in the Championship standings."  P5 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli was fifth in Race 2 also securing fifth place in the standings for his second season in WorldSBK. "For sure we finished the season in a really good way. This is very important to start testing this winter and to start 2023 in a good way. I'm really happy about the last two rounds. But I am little bit disappointed with some rounds, like Barcelona ... maybe we could have fought for third place in the Championship ... but anyway we finished a difficult season in fifth place, so we need to be happy, we need to look forward and we need to prepare next season and I think we will come back really strong. For sure, we improved.” P6 – Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) - Redding concluded his first season with BMW with a top six finish. - He occupies eighth position in the Championship standings for his first season with BMW. "Interesting race actually. I got off to a flying start which is something we've been working on this year. This weekend I found something that helped me with the start. So, it was quite good, and we had a great start. I struggled a lot this weekend and I tipped in to Turn 1 and thought 'it's the last race, give everything you’ve got'. I was hanging out there in the front for a bit, that was pretty good. I challenged for the lead a few times and then the tyre start becoming an issue. I started dropping back which was a shame because I felt pretty good. I was happy with the Sunday. Both races turned out alright after a really tough weekend."  To note: The race was red flagged after a collision involving Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) at Turn 1, with Laverty taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash but he was conscious. Laverty was diagnosed with a pelvic injury and taken to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne by helicopter for further assessments. Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) rounded out a strong debut weekend as he stood in for Iker Lecuona with ninth place in Race 2, scoring a total of 13 points.

WorldSBK Results Race 2 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.357s 3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 4. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 6. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 12) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (601 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (529 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (502 points)

WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +3.285s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +3.328s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#AUSWorldSBK #PhillipIsland #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

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Ducati secures 2022 WorldSBK Manufacturers’ Title at Phillip Island

The Italian Manufacturer claimed their first title since 2011, their 18th overall in WorldSBK. Ducati have won the 2022 Manufacturers’ Championship for the 18th time with 595 points claimed over the season. It’s Ducati’s first Manufacturers’ title since 2011, when they also claimed their last Riders' Championship with Carlos Checa. The Italian manufacturer have dominated the 2022 season with several of their riders often featuring on the podium, including including the newly-crowned Champion, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Bautista, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) all claimed valuable points for Ducati over the season. The Italian manufacturer and their riders highlighted the performance and reliability of the Ducati Panigale V4R, whilst it also means the Bologna-based manufacturer have now secured the Manufacturers’ Championship in both MotoGP™ and WorldSBK. It is the first time in their history that they have achieved this, making it a record-breaking season for WorldSBK’s most successful manufacturer.

Luigi Dall'Igna, General Manager of Ducati Corse: "After Alvaro Bautista's win in the World Superbike Riders' Championship, being able to get the Manufacturers’ Championship as well is for us a further source of pride. It is an important goal, which repays all the efforts and the work done with great commitment, passion and dedication by the men and women of Ducati Corse. It is our eighteenth Manufacturers’ title in WorldSBK and it is the first one obtained with our Panigale V4R, a bike that has given us great satisfaction since 2019. As always, however, special thanks go to all the Ducati riders who were able to interpret it at its best and who, with their results, have allowed us to achieve this historic success. Congratulations also to the Aruba.it Racing - Ducati team for winning the title of best WorldSBK team this season."

Ducati WorldSBK Season Statistics Wins: 14 Pole positions: 2 Fastest laps: 11 Ducati WorldSBK Overall Statistics Wins: 390 Pole positions: 186 Fastest laps: 401 Titles: 18 Manufacturers' Championship Standings (after Round 12) 1. Ducati (595 points) 2. Yamaha (555 points) 3. Kawasaki (503 points) For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com

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#AUSWorldSBK #Ducati #PhillipIsland #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022 #WorldSBKManufacturersTitle

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Rea ends win drought with Race 1 victory in wet-to-dry battle

Drying conditions prompted pit stops up and down the grid. Race 1 Highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea took his first race win since Estoril in May, ending his 24-race win drought. - He is the first rider with a winning career spanning more than 13 years. His first win was in Misano 2009. - He was one of the first lead riders to change from wet tyres to slicks on Lap 10 to win with a 6.247s ahead of Razgatlioglu. “There were a lot of things going on in that race and that’s what makes the victory a little bit more special because my team were involved in the pit stop. We could be strong in the wet conditions and also the dry, and I made that perfection decision to come in. it was even potentially a lap too late. I was thinking about coming in one lap earlier, but we made a deal with my team that I had to give them a signal on the pit straight. I thought I hadn’t given them the signal yet so came past so gave it one more lap and it was time. I quickly checked to see who was coming. I knew it was the perfect time. I saw Toprak was there so I thought the last ten laps would be with him. I exited the pit box and had a much better stop than Toprak and I could ride to my pit board. It’s nice, it’s really nice more than anything to win. It’s not something I’ve really been dwelling on since the beginning of the season because the season’s been so challenging. Alvaro and Toprak have been so good so there’s no point in me getting disappointed or feeling sorry for myself. We’re getting beaten now by guys who are riding very well and manufacturers that are pushing really hard. It’s motivating to keep working, to keep following them and keep challenging myself and my team. I think we’re doing a really good job. Hopefully we can roll this momentum on to tomorrow and finish the season really strongly.”

P2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu claimed second position in Race 1 to take his 81st podium. - He entered the pits to switch to slicks on Lap 10, as did Rea, but he wasn't able to catch the race winner in the final part of the race. "For me, this weekend didn't have a good start but anyway my team was working to have a better bike. Now I'm happy. We finished the race on the podium. It was a strange race for me. It was my first race like this. I felt too much spinning on the rear and after I was not pushing on the tyre. I saw that Jonny was also not pushing. Then I saw he entered to the box and I followed him directly. My team made a small mistake during the pit stop, they struggled to put the front tyre so we lost almost five seconds. But anyway, this is racing, this is motorsport. We tried our best. We are here, in second place. Now I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”

P3 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes completed the podium as he finished 15.435s behind race winner. He claimed his third podium of the season. - He was leading when the first riders started pitting but was the last from the leading group opting to pit-in as he switched tyres on Lap 12. - His podium finish means he is now only eight points behind Locatelli in fifth place in the Championship standings. “I didn’t expect it to dry as fast as it did. The race at the start, when I went off the start, it was a lot drier. The warm up lap was a lot drier than when we went to the grid. I need to be careful so I was trying to be smooth on the wet tyres, then I realised there was a dry line appearing so I tried to use the wet tyre a lot because I knew, at some point, we had to make a pit stop. I probably pitted one or two laps too late but when I got out on the dry tyres, I felt good straight away. In general, I’m happy. I think I have a good chance tomorrow whatever the conditions are. Really happy for the team and Jonathan getting back on the top step of the podium, me back on the podium.”

P4 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli finished in fourth place 2.907s behind Lowes and around a second ahead of Bautista as he passed him in the closing stages of the race. - He remains fifth in the Championship standings with 258 points. "Today was a fun race for the fans and for us because to stop to have a flag-to-flag was interesting. In the end we got fourth position so I think we can be happy. It's a good result. I was fighting with Alex until the end and maybe finish in third position. My team did a really good job for the flag-to-flag, so I want to thank them. I'm really happy about today and about this race. We'll try again tomorrow, and we'll try to improve to try to stay closer to the front because we want to try to get a podium. This is the target, but we will see tomorrow what we can do." P5 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista took fifth place as he crossed the finish line 19.369s behind Rea. - He decided to switch to slick tyres on Lap 11, one lap later than Rea and Razgatlioglu. "It's been a new experience for everybody, for me and also for the team, having a flag-to-flag race. In the beginning, it was strange in wet conditions because I had a worse feeling than this morning during the practice. I struggled a lot to have some temperature on the tyre and I was suffering a little bit even if I was in the front group. Then I saw that the track was drying step by step. But I wanted to be sure that we'll have a clean line in the dry to make the switch. I switched the tyres. With the setup I had for the wet conditions, it wasn't working so well for the dry tyres. I didn't have too much confidence. On the front I couldn't brake so hard because the bike started to move and jump a lot but also on with the rear tyre, it was like riding on ice. I needed five or six laps to start to feel some grip on the rear. I think this is a big disadvantage to be light because I cannot put weight on the lap in these kinds of conditions. We depend too much on the setup of the bike. If the setup is nice, I can push like I did in the Superpole where I did a really good lap time on the SC0 tyre. But when the race setting is not the right setting for me it's difficult because the bike is more difficult to go into the corners and I cannot move myself to put some weight at the front or the rear. I am more limited than other riders. Anyway, I'm happy. It has been a new experience. We did a really challenging race. For sure we have some data for the future in case this happen again." P6 – Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) - Gerloff was sixth around 36s behind the race winner. He pitted on the same lap as Bautista. "Complicated is the right word to describe this race. It was raining really hard after the Superpole session. I honestly didn't think that it was going to be a dry race at all. But then, we were sitting on the grid, the track was still soaking wet, but the sun came out and the wind was hard. The wind was up there pretty hard. And I was thinking 'alright this is going to dry' and it did pretty quickly. In the race, I made a decent start and it didn't feel too bad in the rain but honestly, I didn't feel too fantastic either and I lost some ground. But staying around sixth, seventh place and then when the track started to dry, I was feeling pretty good, expect that I wasn't really sure about when I should come in, because there were still a couple of places on the track that were pretty wet. I probably waited a lap longer than I should have. I saw Locatelli in front of me, he was with Bautista maybe, I saw him going into the pit and I was thinking like 'do I do it or not' but on the grid, I told my guys that I was going give them a signal before I come in so, I never gave them the signal so I didn't want to catch them out. Anyway, they would have been ready, but I decided to do one more lap, giving them the signal so they were properly ready and in the end it was good." WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 10:35 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 13:00 and Race 2 at 16:00.

WorldSBK Results Race 1 1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +6.247s 3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +15.435s 4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +19.369s 5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +19.369s 6. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +36.235s Championship standings (after Race 1 - Round 12) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (564 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (507 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (475 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’29.815s 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.211s 3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.238s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#AUSWorldSBK #PhillipIsland #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

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Rea, Bautista and Lowes distinguish themselves from the rest of the field

Rea, Bautista and Lowes distinguish themselves from the rest of the field as the fastest riders on Friday. Rea leads the way as WorldSBK's return to Phillip Island ignites, Japanese sensation Nagashima P6 on debut. Friday Highlights - WorldSBK  P1 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea posted a 1’31.127s on his final lap of FP2 to lead Friday’s combined standings. - He was 0.105s quicker than Bautista. “I really enjoyed the bike from Lap 1, the guys did a pretty good guesstimate of the setup. Phillip Island is quite a unique track because, with experience, the more you try at this circuit, sometimes the slower you go. I tried to start calmer, be smooth with the bike, not fighting the bike and things were working. I just tried to be very clear with my comments to my guys to make the bike setup changes between FP1 and FP2 and the bike was good. There are a few areas we really need to improve tomorrow. We’ll sit down tonight and analyse that to make things a little bit easier over a race distance. A little bit more turning is top of the agenda, and also throttle connection in some corners needs to be a little bit smoother. We have to be pretty satisfied. Like I said in the last races, we’ve been quite far from Alvaro and Toprak in terms of race time. At the end of the race, we’ve been struggling. My only target is just trying to be there at the end, keep consistent, give my 100% and if it’s possible to do well then so be it. I try not to worry about them. Alvaro’s already done his job this season and with Toprak we’re still fighting for second in the Championship. He has a big gap, but anything can happen with the forecast. With my pace being good, we can fight at the front and try to take it to the last race at least.”

P2 - Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista was second in the combined standings with a fastest time of 1’31.232s. - The newly-crowned World Champion crashed at Turn 4 in FP1 but was unhurt and back out in FP2, when he improved his time. “I had a small crash at Turn 4 this morning. I went a bit off of the line and I lost the front. The only thing is that I couldn’t finish the practice but fortunately, it was nothing serious. I always like to work on the pace, especially on Friday. Today, we had two new tyres from Pirelli so it was important to understand the tyres. In the morning I started with the B option; we did a few laps and I understood more or less the potential and the feeling with the bike. This afternoon, we tried both tyres but in the first run, I tried the A solution and I felt quite comfortable, so we decided to keep working with this tyre because for me, it means a better feeling on the bike. In the end, it could be an option for the race if it doesn’t rain. I think it’s been a positive Friday because we worked on the pace, and I felt good on the bike.”

P3 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - A best time of 1’31.416s put Lowes in third place on the combined classification. “It was good, really positive, coming off the back of a tough weekend last weekend where I couldn’t get the feeling I needed. Today’s been the opposite; I didn’t touch the bike today really. I just tried to relax. It’s all about tyre life and trying to get the tyres to last over the 22 laps here. Honestly, it was good. In the first session, I used the same tyre. In the afternoon, we made a small change and it felt a little bit better on the front. In general, we had a really positive day and I feel happy with the feeling I have with the bike. It was good for Kawasaki. We want to be fighting for the top step. Obviously, Jonny’s not won for a long time so it would be nice to have a Kawasaki up there winning and I feel this weekend, if it’s dry anyway, we have a good chance to go and fight for victory.” P4 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu was fourth at the end of Friday with a best time of 1’31.604s set in FP1, as he was not able to improve in the afternoon session, the only rider in the field who didn’t. “After Mandalika, it was not the perfect day for me. We didn’t have a strong start. Anyway, after two years, we come back to Phillip Island and we are now trying to have a good setup for my bike. I hope tomorrow we find a good setup and we start to come back strongly. Kawasaki are very strong at this track, I remember 2020. Also Bautista is very strong, I think he will ride alone in the race; it looks like his pace is very fast. I will try to join this group. I am just searching for a good setup. I hope I find this and ride with Jonny and Alvaro. Maybe, in the race, we can fight with Alvaro.” P5 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli finished 0.051s behind teammate Razgatlioglu to take fifth place in the combined standings. "It's like a dream to ride the Superbike here and today was really amazing. I'm also really happy because it's the first day and we are already fast. We have a really good feeling so it's a good first day and we'll try to enjoy tomorrow. For sure, it won't be easy but anyway, it's the last weekend of the season. We'll try to enjoy and get the maximum we can have. I want to push and enjoy because it's a special track for me. I want to try to close the season in the best way." P6 – Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) - Stepping in as a replacement for Iker Lecuona, Nagashima was sixth in the combined standings on Friday with a best time 1’31.869s, 0.742s behind Rea. - The Japanese debutant was also top Honda in both sessions “I didn’t expect this! I was expecting to struggle a bit more because it’s my first time in WorldSBK. It was one of my first times with the Pirelli tyre. It was really difficult but P6 is not bad. I have experience here from MotoGP™ and I think the MotoGP™ bike is a little bit more difficult. When I ride the Superbike, it was a bit easier because I have experience from the Suzuka 8 Hours, and I know this bike well. I just need to adapt to the Pirelli tyres, but it was OK. I had a small problem, but it was still OK. I still have to improve for the race because it’s 22 laps: it’s quite long. My average lap time is not so good. I can still improve a lot. Let’s enjoy the race. I don’t know where I will finish but I will try to do my maximum and maybe after the race I can smile!”

To note: Top BMW was Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in P9, whilst he was two places behind best Independent rider Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven). Already crowned Best Independent Rider in 2022, Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) concluded day one in 11th. WorldSBK action resumes on Saturday from 10:50 (Local Time) with the FP3 session, followed by Tissot Superpole at 13:10 and Race 1 at 16:00. WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2 1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’31.127s 2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.105s 3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.289s 4. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.477s 5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.594s 6. Tetsuta Nagashima (Team HRC) +0.742s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#AUSWorldSBK #PhillipIsland #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

[sbknews]

Bautista secures WorldSBK title despite Razgatlioglu's Mandalika hat-trick

A 2nd place in Race 2 allowed Bautista to become the 2022 World Champion, delivering Ducati their first title since 2011. Race 2 Highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu won three races out of three in Mandalika. He took the advantage over Bautista to claim the win with a 1.230s advantage over the newly crowned WorldSBK Champion. - He remains second in the Championship standings with 462 points. "For me it's been an unbelievable weekend, in a Muslim country. Three wins... This is a very good weekend for me, I'm really happy. Congratulations to Bautista and Ducati. It was a really good season because we are fighting almost every race. We lost the Championship, but I tried my best. I won three times, and this is positive for me. We have a lot of respect. We are fighting but outside the track, we are talking to him like friends. I’m very happy for him to take the Championship this year, and also for him to ride the Ducati many years later. It’s a very good day for him. I remember it for me last year. I saw Alvaro in the gold leathers and I’m looking again because it was like my suit, very similar! Congratulations again, I think today is a Ducati day.” P2 - Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista was crowned WorldSBK Champion with 533 points after his second place in Race 2. “It’s incredible, I’m so happy. It’s a dream come true, especially after the last two years and all the difficulties. I want to say thanks to everyone who trusted me, to give me this chance to fight for good places and we got the Championship at the first time trying. Today was the first time I felt a bit nervous or stressed, but it was in Race 2 on the grid before the start. I tried to manage the emotions and when I was in first, I was making a lot of mistakes because I had too many thoughts in my head! I just preferred to say second behind Toprak, but he was very strong, so I could just follow him. So happy.”

P3 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Battling in front in the early stages of the race, Rea finished in third position in Race 2. He crossed the finish line 2.825s behind Razgatlioglu. - He stands in third place in the standings with 434 points. "Sunday has been really positive. Like I said yesterday, I was quite content and satisfied with being on the podium. We were quite far from the race win. Today we were able to really close that gap. I could fight with Toprak for the Superpole Race. The rhythm was incredibly fast. So, I'm happy to be P2 there. In Race 2 today I felt something in the middle of the race. I couldn't go, I was catching the guys at the front, and I felt like this could be good but again, last laps I just really struggled to get the best from my bike. Things were moving around a little bit. I just had to close the gap. My confidence was dropping because I was riding completely on the limit. Satisfied, as I've said we've made a good step. I want to thank my team for making a good step from yesterday." P4 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - After claiming his second podium of the season in the Tissot Superpole Race, Locatelli finished in fourth place in Race 2. - He stands in fifth place in the Championship standings. "I'm really happy about today because in the end, after yesterday, we understood a lot. We prepared very really for Sunday. Then, this morning it was really important to try to push in the Tissot Superpole Race. But I thought I could do it, so I trusted myself and I tried to give the maximum. Then, we started again from P3, so it was important. It was a really good Race 2. We fought a lot with Alex. It was really nice. It's a very important weekend for me and it's been positive. Now we have the last round to try again to push. I think I want to try to get some podiums because it's one of my favourite tracks. I have a lot of motivation to finish the season."  P5 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Bassani was fifth in Race 2, finishing 8.205s behind the winner. - He was crowned Best Independent rider in the Tissot Superpole Race. He stands in seventh position in the Championship standings with 230 points after Race 2. "Finally, I won the Independent Riders’ Championship. I'm really happy. Today, we made a lot a really good steps with the bike. Yesterday, I really couldn't ride like I wanted. But today I felt good with the bike, I could stay with the top three guys. I only want to enjoy the moment. It's really hot here so it's difficult to have a normal race. You have to manage yourself physically, to stay focused on the race. I felt on fire. But anyway, we finished the race, we did our job!" P6 – Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) - Redding finished in fifth place in both the Tissot Superpole Race and Race 2. He was the leading BMW rider. - He is eighth in the Championship standings. “The weekend was difficult with the track conditions. It was obviously hard for us to set the bike up because the track was changing all the time. Today was better for me. In the Superpole Race, I felt good with the bike and I was able to get a good result. And in the main race this afternoon, I felt pretty good, but I went off track again, trying to make an overtake and I lost the front group. I had a strong pace at the end of the race, I was catching, I passed two or three guys. The pace was there but I made another mistake. I was angry at myself for that because the pace was enough for the fourth position today so I could have battled with them. But we keep pushing, we keep trying and are looking forward to the next race in Phillip Island.” The the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round will take place from the 18th to the 20th of November at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

WorldSBK Results Race 2 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.230s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.825s 4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +7.595s 5. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +8.205s 6. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +12.478s Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 11) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (553 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (487 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (450 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.586s 3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +1.235s

For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com

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Razgatlioglu wins WorldSBK’s 900th race, Bautista second

The Turkish rider took the Race 1 win by 4.324s, Bautista and Rea completed the podium. Race 1 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - After obliterating the lap record to take pole position, Razgatlioglu won Race 1 at Mandalika. - He crossed the finish line with a 4.324s advantage for his 30th victory. - He remains second in the Championship standings with 450 points. “Today, I am very happy because we are very strong. In FP3, it was a very good lap time and in Superpole it was an unbelievable lap time! For me, it was important to win the race. It was good for me but not easy for anybody because of the very hot conditions. In the race, I made just one mistake, but I didn’t crash. In corner six, I touched the dirty line and in corner seven I closed the gas because the rear was sliding. I felt the sliding after I touched the gas. I went wide because it wasn’t possible to turn. Afterwards, I remember Marc Marquez who had a very big crash here. Always, I am just scared of corner seven because you have just one line and you try to ride this line. You are always thinking this but sometimes make a mistake.”

P2 - Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista battled with Rea to secure second place. - He will still be able to take the title in the next race, the Tissot Superpole Race. He will be Champion if he finishes first and Razgatlioglu is eighth or lower. “Today, I’m happy with second position. I think it was the maximum we could achieve today. For sure, Toprak is very strong this weekend and the pace was amazing. Sincerely, I didn’t expect this pace for all the race, maybe in the first lap doing ’33s but then slow down, but he could keep the pace. In the end, I didn’t have such a good Superpole because I had some troubles during the session, and I couldn’t make a perfect lap and started from fifth. I had a good start, I gained some positions and then at the beginning, with 60 centimetres of good asphalt, it’s easy to make a mistake. So, I just wanted to be clam at the beginning, try to not make mistakes and to not go out of the good line. Then I started to fight with Andrea and Jonathan. When I was second, Toprak was first with a gap. But even if I had been closer, I don’t think I could have caught him because his pace was really good. I tried to keep focused and do my best. And today the best was finish second so I’m happy for that.” P3 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - With 425 points, Rea is now mathematically out of title contention as he lost ground to Bautista by finishing third. "The race was better than expected. Yesterday I had a really difficult Friday. I was riding the bike, not in a nice way. I was very aggressive on the bike with the low grip surface. Step by step, my team understood how to make changes, how I needed to ride, and it really helped me. Today I was much closer to fighting with Toprak in the beginning today, and then with Alvaro a little bit. I didn't expect to be there. A podium was my target. We achieved that. I think we can learn a lot more for tomorrow to try to make changes to the bike, generate some more rear traction. Today I was worried about my front tyre, it didn’t look good but in Parc Fermé it looked so much worse than the others. Everyone is struggling in that area, but rear traction we need to try to improve for tomorrow. We'll put our head together and try to improve there for tomorrow."  P4 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli claimed fourth place to take his firth top-five finish since Estoril. "It's a positive day for me and my team. We worked hard from Friday. Unfortunately, during the race, I lost the opportunity to follow Jonathan and Alvaro because in the end my rhythm was similar to his. We'll try again tomorrow. I'm really excited to have had my first front row, it's important for me, for my future, and to believe in myself. In the end, it was a positive day and we're looking for tomorrow. I think we can finish the weekend in a good way." P5 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi was fighting for fourth but eventually conceded four seconds to Locatelli. “I started quite well from a bad position. But then in the first laps I couldn’t do my pace. I wasn’t feeling good with the bike. But then after six laps, the bike started to feel really good. So, I started to push, and I overtook the other riders until five laps from the end, I overtook Locatelli and was fourth. But then the last three laps, I had a huge drop of the rear tyre, and I couldn’t turn, go inside of the corner with the angle. For sure, I’m happy about the pace in the middle of the race because it was similar to the top guys. So, I’m happy about that. We need to improve the first five laps and the last four laps. And if we can do that, we can fight for the podium tomorrow.” P6 – Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) - Vierge was the sole Team HRC rider in Race 1 as Iker Lecuona was declared unfit after crashing in FP2. "It has been a really difficult day. The track is getting better every session so it's really difficult to understand the changes on the bike, if we're going in the right direction or not. But anyway, I think we are doing a good job. We had a solid race. It was important to not make mistakes. We are missing a little bit to try to make a step forward to try to fight for a better position tomorrow."

WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 08:30 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 10:30 and Race 2 at 13:30. WorldSBK Results Race 1 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +4.324s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +11.855s 4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +19.954s 5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +23.992s 6. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +27.114s

Championship standings (after Race 1 - Round 11) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (527 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (450 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (425 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1’31.371s 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.052s 3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +1.092s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#IDNWorldSBK #Mandalika #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

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Bautista leads Friday running in Indonesia ahead of his first match point in Race 1

The Spanish rider finished ahead of reigning Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu in Friday’s combined classification. Friday highlights - WorldSBK  P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - The Championship leader was fastest on Friday at Mandalika, setting a best time of 1’33.626s. - He was 0.462s faster than 2nd-placed Razgatlioglu and was the only rider in the 1’33s. - Bautista will be able to clinch the title in Race 1 if he outscores Razgatlioglu by 17 points and Rea by one point as he needs to have a 99-point margin to both Rea and Razgatlioglu (only full length race wins are used in the event of a tie, which currently stands at 12 for Bautista and five for Razgatlioglu with four remaining). “Today, basically, we tried to understand the track to have some reference with a Ducati and also, in FP1, our goal today was just to put rubber on the track. In the afternoon, the track improved a little bit. I was a bit inconsistent during practice because, when I didn’t see very clearly when I could be safe in the corner, I just rolled off and didn’t take any risks. It’s better to have more Ducatis in front because it means that maybe it’s a track that fits not so bad for our bike but, at the same time, it depends a lot. Tomorrow we will see improvement from the track and then we see the performance of each rider. This kind of weekend is difficult to understand from the first day because everything is changing a lot. You have to be focused and try to get the maximum every time you go out to the track. My feeling with the bike has been positive.”

P2 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu was second with a best lap clocked in 1'34.088s in FP2. - He was one of the busiest riders on track over the two sessions, completing 38 laps with only Bautista and Baz recording more. “This morning, we started with a dirty track and in the afternoon, it felt much better. I’m feeling good and ready to race. We tried some different setups for the race and I’m very happy with the long run and the race simulation. I’m looking now to tomorrow because it will be an important day for me. Now, there is just one clean line but it’s not completely clean. In the races, it won’t be easy to pass because outside the line is very dirty. I hope it doesn’t start to rain because, otherwise, I think tomorrow will start like today.”

P3 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi posted his best time in 1'34.590s, finishing third in the combined standings. - He was 0.964s behind his teammate. “Friday has been pretty good because, last year, here I struggled a lot. The track is different, and the asphalt is new, so it was difficult this morning to get a rhythm. This afternoon was much better, so everyone pushed for lap times. We tried the tyre because it looks like the SCX is damaging too much after a few laps. So, we go for the hardest compound, and I really like it. My lap was quite good. I think that at the moment we don’t have the pace to be on the podium, we need to improve a little bit. I think it will important to be in front and follow the slipstream of the top guys for a podium or a top four.” P4 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea was fourth with a personal best time of 1’34.595s, 0.969s slower than Bautista. "It was a difficult day honestly. I've felt that this morning it was very difficult the track. It was more a case of just understanding the layout, warming up. And then in FP2 the line was very narrow. I didn't feel great with my bike. We guessed a bit balance change in the bike to try to generate some grip on the tyre. It's just not really my base setup. I wasn't feeling good. I think it's more a case of back to basics tomorrow. Trying to get a bike that is more natural turning and then start to work step by step. We need to pay attention to the weather because the forecast and being in this microclimate here, we can have rain or we can have sun. The track temperature today was very high. We just don’t know what we’ll face tomorrow. P5 – Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) - Gerloff was the fastest Independent rider in the top six finishing in fifth. "Today was difficult. This morning the track was so dirty. It's awesome that the track put the new asphalt and everything, the commitment they have to racing and to have the best possible asphalt and circuit is really good. Really difficult this morning, especially for me. We just stayed on one set of tyres, just trying to get laps in and basically not waste any stickers with the track conditions not the best. FP2 went a lot better, as long as you stay on that line, you're fine, but if you go off line a little bit you have a big time."  P6 – Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) - Fores was sixth overall, as he completed his best time in 1’34.871s. "This morning was a little bit crazy because the track was so dirty, and it was like riding on ice. I took my time to learn the layout and I was taking care of the bike because I was a little bit lost, especially in the first laps of FP1. This afternoon, in FP2, I've felt more comfortable with the bike. We changed some things compared to this morning. I put some new tyres on and the pace was ok. I was inside the top eight and top five during all the session. I've felt comfortable, and especially I didn't feel like I was pushing too much to do a lap. This is something that makes me happy. This morning I was a bit frustrated because the level is so high and coming in this time of the season, it's not easy to be on the level. But anyway, I'm feeling confident and comfortable with the bike." To note: Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) finished in eighth as the best Honda rider. FP2 was red flagged after a huge highside for Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). He was diagnosed with a low back contusion and has been transported to RSUD NTB Mataram Hospital for further assessments. Hafizh Syahrin (MIE Racing Honda Team) also had a crash in FP2 which brought out the red flags, but after being evaluated at the medical centre was declared fit. WorldSBK action resumes on Saturday from 08:30 (Local Time) with the FP3 session, followed by Tissot Superpole at 10:40 and Race 1 at 13:30. WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’33.626s 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.462s 3. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.964s 4. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.969s 5. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +1.217s 6. Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team) +1.245s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#IDNWorldSBK #Mandalika #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

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Bautista takes commanding Race 2 win in San Juan

The Championship leader is one race closer to the title with a 82-point lead and two rounds to go. Race 2 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista claimed his second win of the weekend in Race 2. He had a 3.389s gap to Razgatlioglu. - He extended his lead in the Championship standings to 82 points over Razgatlioglu and will have a first chance to win the title next time out at the Pirelli Indonesian Round. - Bautista could claim the title in the next race if he outscores Razgatlioglu by 17 points and Rea by one point. "For sure today, it's been really though in the race. First of all, because it's the last race of the weekend, and you feel, physically, all the efforts from the weekend but also because today the track was more difficult than yesterday. It was easier to make mistakes. I didn't start well and lost some positions. But at the same time, it was good because I let the other riders evaluate the situation before me. Then I started to understand how much I could push, and I decided to recover the positions and take the lead because I felt that I could be faster than the others. I took the lead. I saw Toprak was close to me. I didn't think about taking points, about the risks... just to do my best. I gave everything. In the end, I could win some advantage and I could manage until the end. I'm so happy, today my performance was really good." P2 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu was second in Race 2 finishing 9.764s ahead of Rea. - He remains second in the Championship standings with 425 points. “In the second race, I tried my best and kept fighting for the win. I was waiting for Alvaro’s tyre to drop but it didn’t happen, so I kept fighting for second position. I want to thank my team, in the last minutes we changed the plan and decided to use the SCX tyre. The SCX tyre is destroyed but I was feeling much better during the race. We keep fighting for the Championship. We’ll try our best again in Mandalika.” P3 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - After battling with his teammate for third place in the closing stages of the race, Rea made the move at Turn 8 on Lap 18 to take another podium finish. - Rea stands in third place in the Championship standings, 98 points behind Bautista and 16 points behind Razgatlioglu. “I’m just disappointed because my bike this morning was incredible, in the Superpole Race. I had good traction and everything was working. From the get-go in Race 2 this afternoon, I had nothing. As soon as I turned into Turn 2, I felt ‘why is the bike not hooking up?’. I was fighting, a real passenger for most of the race, so we need to analyse exactly what happened because it was strange. It was a battle with my teammate, Alex. In the beginning with Vierge and Rinaldi. It was just about grinding those guys down and letting the tyres move around a little bit. Alex’s pace was fast! He just kept going and going and going. There was a point I thought ‘maybe my best is fourth’. I kept going, never gave up, and finally I could arrive on the podium.” P4 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes was fighting for a podium finish with Rea but dropped around two seconds behind his teammate in the closing stages to take fourth place. "I was happy with the weekend. I think our pace was fourth this weekend. I wasn't quite as fast as the first three but it looked like, in the practices, I was a bit quicker than the guys behind. Shame not to be able to get on the podium. I felt quite good at the end of the race, but the SCX rear tyre just dropped, and I had lot of chatter in the end. We'll try again in Indonesia."  P5 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Having led in the first laps of the race, Rinaldi dropped down to take fifth place finishing 4.006s behind Lowes. "Actually, I smelled the podium and you know, going home without the trophy is not what I wanted but if you see Friday, I can be satisfied with how we answered to a bad Friday. We worked hard, we improved the bike, we improved the feeling, we improved the time, and we were able to lead some laps, which is not bad. But to fight the top three guys, you must be at your 100% everywhere. Unfortunately, with the hot conditions, I was not comfortable riding because I couldn't stop the bike the way I wanted to. Now we are so consistent in the race even if it's not going well, so we just need a small step, but I think that it's closer than you think." P6 – Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) - Vierge took sixth position in Race 2, his best result since Barcelona. "It has been a really good weekend for us. We started FP1 struggling a lot and I didn't understand how to go faster, especially in sector 3 and 4 but the team made an amazing job. It helped me a lot to improve the feeling with the bike and understand how to go fast, and every time we went out, we improved a lot, especially after FP3. The plan was to try to win some places in the Tissot Superpole Race and this helped us to be a bit closer to the front in Race 2. I caught Rinaldi and I tried to overtake him, but he was faster than me in some parts of the track. I was faster in some others but not enough to overtake him. It has been a good race. I learned a lot during the weekend, and it was good for us to make these improvements for the future." To note: Baz battled back from the rear of the field after he came off his bike following a Lap 2 collision with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) at Turn 12. The incident was investigated by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards with Bassani deemed at fault, with the Italian penalised with a Long Lap Penalty. However, for not taking this in time, Bassani was given a second Long Lap Penalty before he was given a ride through penalty for not taking his Long Lap Penalties on time. The Pirelli Indonesian Round will take place from the 11th to the 13th of November at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit.

WorldSBK Results Race 2 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +3.389s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +9.784s 4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +11.650s 5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruna.it Racing – Ducati) +15.656s 6. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +16.381s Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 10) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (507 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (425 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (409 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.613s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.856s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com

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Bautista wins Race 1 to seal 13th victory of 2022

Bautista wins Race 1 to seal 13th victory of 2022 and extend his Championship lead to 80 points. The Championship leader took the win ahead of Rea and Bassani, as Razgatlioglu crashed on the opening lap. Race 1 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista took the lead in the first corner but dropped down to fourth place after avoiding Razgatlioglu when the reigning World Champion crashed. - He was able to overtake Bassani and Rea to claim the win with a 5.141s gap. - Bautista was the only rider from the top three in the Championship to use the SCX tyre. - He extends his lead in the Championship standings to 80 points over Razgatlioglu and 87 points over Rea. “Today I’m happy because I improved a lot the feeling with the bike from yesterday. I want to thank Ducati and all my team, they worked to give me a real good bike for today. Already this morning I felt really strong with the bike, on the pace. Also, in the Superpole, we did incredibly fast laps. I was so confident for the race because I knew I had a really good feeling and a very good pace. The important thing was the first lap, to not stay with a lot of riders and to not enter into a lot of fights and to not make mistakes. But in the first lap, I was leading the race. In the first corner I was really lucky because Toprak crashed in front of me. I don’t know if he touched my front tyre or it was my feeling, but he was really close and I was lucky to not crash with him. After that, I needed a couple of laps to analyse what was happening and unfortunately I just lost some positions, and I could stay with the front group. Then I saw that my pace could be a couple of tenths faster. So, I decided, without taking many risks, try to stay in front and have my reference. I was quite consistent during the race. I’m happy because we choose the SCX tyre and I think it was the best option because it worked really well. More than the victory, I’m happy with the feeling I recovered with the bike.” P2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea battled all race long with Bassani, with Rea out braking Bassani into Turn 1 on Lap 18 to stay ahead and take second place, claiming his 22nd podium of the season. - With Razgatlioglu finishing in 15th place, only seven points separates Rea from second place in the standings. "Axel started really well, his rhythm was quite strong in the beginning. When Alvaro came past, he capitalised on being able to pass Bassani quite easily. Then he had some free track to do his rhythm and he went away. I was stuck because I was stronger in some areas of the track and Axel was stronger in other areas. It was like a concertina effect. But then I settled for second, I understood today I could race for second. We were going away from Lecuona so it was more a race understanding where am I going to pass.  I tried a couple of times into the long chicane, but it didn’t really work. Axel would get the cut back. I put another move in the penultimate corner and it kind of worked. He came back and went wide and into Turn 1, from there, it was about doing my rhythm, try to go away, have some breathing room for the last lap. Not the win that I would dream of, but I feel like we could be really satisfied with effort." P3 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Bassani was fighting with Rea for second place until Lap 18 when Rea overtook him. He finished third, claiming his fourth WorldSBK podium, his third one of 2022. - He stands in sixth place in the Championship rankings, while also standing as the best Independent rider. “It was an incredible race! I tried to stay at the front of the race. When Alvaro overtook me, I tried to stay with him but it wasn’t possible. I stayed with Jonny, but he’s a really good rider and has six World Championships. For me, it was incredible to battle with him. I tried to follow him. Today, it wasn’t possible for me because in the last laps I had a problem with the front tyre. I understood a lot of things because I’m young and Jonny, for me, is the king of WorldSBK. Battling with him is like a dream for me. But now I want to beat him!” P4 – Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) - Lecuona, who was also using the SCX tyre, claimed fourth position having not been able to close the 1.5s gap to Rea and Bassani. "Today was better than expected. The team told me that this was one of the worst tracks last year, it's true that the bike changed, and also the riders... and honestly, I didn't expect this result before the Superpole, before the race. It was a big surprise for the team and me, because it's one of the worst tracks last year and also because it's my first time here. We missed some time to adapt, to learn the track, and normally the best race is the second one. But it's true that this weekend, I adapted quickly to the track. I feel good. I feel strong. Also, the tyre management was really good during the race. I felt drops in the last two or three laps, but I could manage all the race. I was a bit scared because Rinaldi was catching me, and then in the end I could manage the gap. I finish fourth and for me it's like a victory." P5 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi was fifth as he finished 13.882s behind his teammate. “It has been a difficult Friday for us, so we knew that we had to work hard this weekend. But this morning the feeling was much better than yesterday, so this was good. But we still missed something from the top guys. In the Superpole, my lap time was good, but everybody is so close, so I started in eighth position. The race was pretty consistent, but I had a really bad feeling with the bike. I couldn’t push and when I tried to push, I was slower and making mistakes. So, I just focused to try to avoid mistakes. My pace was ok overall. We finish fifth. For tomorrow, we’ll find something more to fight for the podium.” P6 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes took sixth place, finishing 0.625s behind Rinaldi. "The Saturday was difficult. In the Superpole, on the last lap there were a yellow flag, I didn't have time. I had a good pace all weekend and to be minimum on the first two rows, maybe on the front row because my qualifying are pretty good. Starting from ninth is quite tough cause there are a lot of fast bikes. The start of the race was hard, Vierge passed me on the straight, I was trying to pass Baz, it's quite difficult when everyone has got a rhythm to race against. But honestly, after that my pace was quite good. I was slowly catching Rinaldi and Lecuona, but there were not enough laps. but the pace I had; I have to be happy. We'll try again tomorrow." To note: Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) crashed in the opening lap of Race 1 and managed to re-join the race to finish in 15th position. He remains second in the Championship standings with now only seven points between him and Rea for the second place in the standings. Explaining the crash, Razgatlioglu said: “It was a big mistake for me. After two years, I think this is normal. The one time I make a mistake in the race. I’m very angry for this because it was the first lap. I tried to pass Bautista because he had a big advantage on the straight. For me, the race was very fast to the finish. I tried to come back again. The handlebar was not on the correct line. I take one point and it’s better than nothing. For me, it wasn’t a good day. We know that Bautista is very strong this weekend, and also in Australia. In Mandalika, I think he won’t have a big advantage because no long straights. Tomorrow, I will try again and fight for the win. I’m not thinking about the Championship because, for me, everything is finished. I’m just focussed race by race and I try for more wins this season.” Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team) was the first BMW rider in seventh place. Local hero Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team) was the first retirement of the race after the Argentinean rider had a Turn 14 crash on Lap 8. Mercado was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash and was diagnosed with a left ankle sprain. He will undergo a medical review ahead of Warm Up.WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 10:00 (Local Time) with the Warm-Up, followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 12:00 and Race 2 at 15:00.

WorldSBK Results Race 1 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +5.141s 3. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +6.689s 4. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +11.917s 5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +13.882s 6. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +14.507s Championship standings (after Race 1 - Round 10) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (473 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (393 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (386 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1’36.216s 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.233s 3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.455s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com

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[sbknews]

Razgatlioglu in front of Rea and Bautista on Friday at the Circuito San Juan Villicum

The reigning World Champion was in good form in Argentina, with his title rivals chasing hard. Friday highlights - WorldSBK  P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu set his fastest time of 1'37.511s in the morning session. - He was one of the few riders who did not improve their time in FP2. “I just enjoyed today, just a problem with the heat. Tomorrow it will be a little bit better but Sunday it could be hotter again. Anyway, it’s a very good start. The position isn’t very important for me, we need a good lap time and a good way of working for the race. I’m feeling ready to race but the races are always difficult here. We will see. We are fighting for the win and we need good points for the Championship. I’m not thinking about this, just about winning the race.”

P2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea finished Friday in second, 0.196s behind Razgatlioglu. - His best time of 1'37.707s was set in FP2. “I just enjoyed today, just a problem with the heat. Tomorrow it will be a little bit better but Sunday it could be hotter again. Anyway, it’s a very good start. The position isn’t very important for me, we need a good lap time and a good way of working for the race. We are working and we see the other riders. I’m feeling ready to race but the races are always difficult here. We will see. We are fighting for the win and we need good points for the Championship. I’m not thinking about this, just about winning the race. It was a solid day. We started off with a good rhythm straight away. We got to work quite quickly to understand our bike setup, the tyres and we did a lot of laps with not too many changes with the bike. Tonight, I expect to put everything together with the team to try and make a step forward with the setup. All in all, I was really satisfied with the condition the track was in today. I understood both tyres, front and rear options, to make the choice clearer. The forecast tomorrow is for the temperature to be a bit lower than Sunday. We just need to make a step with the bike setup. I’ve got clever people in the garage and I’m sure they can put their heads together.”

P3 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - The Championship leader posted a 1'37.986s to take third in the combined standings. - He finished 0.475s behind Razgatlioglu. “Today has been a very busy Friday for me, because three years ago on the Ducati, I didn’t have really good reference. In the morning, we just made two long runs just to get the reference and to see the track conditions, because on this track, on Friday morning it’s always a bit dirty. Today it was really nice; the grip was really good, so we could be fast from the beginning. This afternoon, we did some big changes on the bike to see if we can improve something, because it’s been a long time since I’ve ridden here with Ducati. It didn’t work as expected so we came back to our morning setup. It’s been positive because we removed some tests from our mind and tomorrow, we can focus on tyre performance, improve some electronics and be more precise on the bike setup.” P4 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes finished fourth in FP2, leaving him fourth in the combined standings going into Saturday. "Friday wasn't too bad. Obviously, the temperatures this afternoon were really hard. I was working hard to choose between the different front tyre options. Obviously, we have two less options than in Europe, two options on the front, a softer and a harder one. So, there were a little bit of work on that. It's always so hard when the track is so hot and the front tyre starts to move a little bit, but my pace was OK. I'd like to improve a little bit, especially after eight laps on the rear tyre. But we're in the mix, we're not too far away." P5 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli’s FP1 best time of 1'38.082s allowed him to finish fifth in the combined results. "It was an interesting day. We started the day in a positive way, so this is a good point. This morning was a bit easier, the feeling on the track was immediately great and this afternoon was really hot. We tried to find something in the hot conditions, but it was really difficult to ride. I think we understood many things to prepare the bike for tomorrow and to have more data for tomorrow. So, this was a good thing for us. I'm happy about today." P6 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Completing Friday’s top six, Bassani was the best independent rider with a best time of 1'38.443s. "It was a good Friday, but I don't have a good feeling with the bike. In FP1 and FP2, we tried to understand the problem, but we couldn't find a solution. I hope tomorrow to find a good setup. I have a lot of issues with the front of the bike, especially on the brakes. When try to go in the corner, the bike moves a lot. I don't have the feeling to push 100%. But we're good, we're in the top five. We are fast and this is good, and I hope tomorrow to be able to fight for the podium because I like the track. "  To note: Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was the fastest Honda rider in seventh, whilst the lead BMW rider was Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was eighth. WorldSBK action resumes on Saturday from 10:00 (Local Time) with the FP3 session, followed by Tissot Superpole at 12:10 and Race 1 at 15:00.

The WorldSBK family observed a minute of silence in memory of Victor Steeman who sadly passed away last week WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 1’37.511s 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.196s 3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.475s 4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.557s 5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.571s 6. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +0.932s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

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Bautista completes Spanish hat-trick as he leads Ducati 1-2

The Championship leader took a dominant Race 2 victory to extend his advantage in the standings. Race 2 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Abuba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista completed a hat-trick with Race 2 victory as he became the first WorldSBK rider with three wins in Barcelona. - He finished the race with a 8.103s gap over his teammate Rinaldi. - He extended his Championship lead to 59 points over Razgatlioglu. - It was his first hat-trick since 2019 “It seems like an easy weekend but, in reality, there was nothing easy. I’m so happy to have won three races here, especially because I think the competition is so high and even more difficult than three years ago. Saturday and Sunday, in the long race, I tried to manage the tyres and keep the pace. I felt quite comfortable. Honestly, for the Superpole Race, we were missing something so, today, in the Warm Up we tried something different on the electronics to help me use the tyre more and not worry about consumption. We tried, I liked it, so I used, and it definitely helped me a lot because it gave me a hand to use the tyre more. I could be fast in the Superpole Race and fight for the win. For sure, it was closer than the other races but also, I expected more fighting, more battling for the victory. In the end, I don’t like to think about the Championship. I didn’t think about it at the beginning and I don’t think about it now. For me, the important thing is that I’m enjoying the bike a lot. I’m enjoying every practice, every single lap, every single race. Let’s keep this mentality and see what happens at the end. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment, celebrate the victory, to reset when things come back and just race and enjoy.”

P2 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi finished in second place ahead of Razgatlioglu, making it a Ducati 1-2 and claiming his 14th podium. - He remains in fourth overall with a 32-point advantage over Locatelli. “We knew yesterday that our expectation was the podium. But unfortunately, I made a mistake in qualifying and I started tenth. Then the race was a bit compromised, but the speed was there. The strategy in the Superpole Race was to start Race 2 in the first two rows and I did it. Today, I really enjoyed the race because I started well. But Jonny and Axel pushed really hard during the whole race. I had to battle really hard but at the same time manage the tyre because we knew what happened yesterday. I did it and I’m really happy because I had a good pace. I didn’t have the pace of Alvaro but in the end I’m really happy about this second place because it’s the second in a row."

P3 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu completed the top three for his 72nd podium. - He remains second in the standings and eight points adrift from Rea. “For me, it was a very difficult weekend. In Race 1, we started very well but we finished in fifth place because we were eating the rear tyre. Today, my plan was just follow Jonny and Bassani and Rinaldi, because I know Alvaro is very fast. Today, I wanted to keep the rear tyre because I understood that first position was not possible in this race. I focused on second and third position. I am very happy that we’re back on the podium. I am not focused on the Championship, I am just looking race by race. Portimao is a very good track for me and also Jonny is very strong, Alvaro is very strong. We are fighting again. Argentina will be a little bit difficult because of the very long straight, which is better for the Ducati, but I will keep fighting. I love Indonesia, and I think we are fighting for the win in Indonesia. Australia, I don’t know! We have many races and the Championship is not finished.”

P4 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea was battling for a podium place but ran wide at Turn 7 on Lap 16. After his mistake he was able to pass Bassani to take fourth. - He stands in third place in the standings with 327 points. "The race was under control compared to our expectations until six laps to go. I was just behind Rinaldi, starting to plot how the end of the race would play out and I went into seven, found neutral but I was coming from fourth to third to second. I couldn't stop the bike. It was all I could do... because I had no engine brake it was to stay upright. The front was jumping... anyway I stayed on the track. Rammed it back into gear... Axel came past but I made quick work of him. I focused on Toprak just to fight until the end. My rhythm was good in the end, but I just ran out of lap so. If you had given me that result at the beginning of the week, I'd probably have accepted it because it's a really though track for us but after seeing our pace yesterday, understanding how the start of the race was, I felt like we left a little bit out there. But equally satisfied with our position. We had nothing for Alvaro this weekend. He was incredible, on a different level. But I felt like we got a lot from our bike, we even improved the settings of the bike at a circuit that is very difficult for us but we've still been able to fight." P5 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Starting from 13th on the grid, Bassani was fighting for a podium place until Rinaldi and Toprak escaped. He then dropped to finish in sixth place. “Really good Race 2. I tried to come back from 13th position. It was difficult but we arrived in second place. I tried to maintain second place but in the first half of the race, I finished the front tyre. I just tried to cross the finish line. We arrived fifth, this is really good for the Championship. It was a really difficult weekend for me, but we finish with a good result and we go to Portimao with good moral.” P6 – Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) - Vierge completed the top six in Race 2 after taking advantage of his Superpole Race result. “Finally, it has been a really positive weekend, especially on Sunday. We learned a lot. Yesterday was a tricky day. We had a good Superpole but then in the race the temperature dropped a lot. We decided to go with another tyre and I felt so bad with it in the race, I was struggling a lot and I had zero grip. We learned a lot from yesterday, we worked a lot on the electronic side and today with the temperature we were able to choose the tyre that works for us. And we could make a really good Superpole Race and Race 2.” To note: Two riders crashed out of the race on the opening lap with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) going down at Turn 10 and Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashing at Turn 14; putting both riders out of the race. Redding was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following his crash and was declared fit but diagnosed with a chest bruise. The Pirelli Portuguese Round will take place from the 7th to the 9th of October at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve. WorldSBK Results Race 2 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +8.103s 3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +9.090s 4. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +10.210s 5. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) 15.677s 6. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +20.230s Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 8) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (394 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (335 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (327 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.185s 3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +1.377s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

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Bautista claims home victory by 8.6s over Rea after stunning start

The Spanish rider moved up the order to claim home victory at Barcelona. Race 1 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista claimed the victory in Race 1 battling up from fifth place on the grid. - Bautista is the first rider to start fifth or lower and lead all the laps in a race since Jonathan Rea in Jerez Race 2 in 2017. - He finished 8.665s ahead of Rea, increasing his Championship lead to 44 points over Razgatlioglu. “I’m really happy to get the victory in Race 1 here, especially after Race 2 in Magny-Cours that I couldn’t finish. To finish the race in first position was very special, to do it in front of my friends, family and fans was very nice. Today, the key was the tyre consumption. I didn’t have a good Superpole but in the end I could make a good start, so I got the lead from Turn 1. In that moment, it was difficult because I didn’t want to push too hard to not use and not stress the rear tyre. At the same time, I have to close the door to not let the other riders pass. It was a difficult situation. I had some touching with other riders behind me. In the end, I could manage, and I can get some advantage after a few laps. I started to ride more comfortably, more relaxed, and I can get my rhythm.” P2 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea was second in Race 1 – extending his winning drought to 13 races. - He now is only eight points shy of Razgatlioglu standing in third place in the standings. “I feel like the weekend has been quite strong so far, being on the front row this morning and then in the race I had a reallyl good launch and I thought everyone is on fifth gear here, it’s Turn 1, relax, but it came out from everywhere in Turn 1. Rinaldi hit ne on the inside and that forced me wide, many people came through, so it was a little bit messy in the beginning. But it was frustrating then because I had completely lost the wheel of Alvaro and Toprak, I was in the big group behind, and they were going away. So, I had to exercise a lot of patience just to manage. Then I was stuck with Bassani on the Ducati and Lecuona with the Honda ... he was fast on the straight. The strategy was to look after the tyre, but I thought where am I going to pass if I can’t line up the exit and abuse the tyre to get there. But the race came to me, lap by lap, the guys were dropping their rhythm a little bit. I don’t feel like I got faster, I just stayed more consistent. Toprak was coming back but his drop was quite severe. I could do a really good job at the end.” P3 – Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) - Gerloff took third position to claim his first podium of the 2022 season, the first one since Donington Park 2021. - The American claimed his sixth WorldSBK podium “It’s been a long time! You never know when your last podium is going to be and for a while, I was thinking that Donington Park last year was going to be the last one. The team deserves to be here; it’s a world class team and they do a world class job. I’m happy to give them and the sponsors some media coverage! “I just figured that this race would be a long one and that tyre degradation was a big thing around here. I saw everyone smoking tyres right from the first lap, and it was a sign to me to be easy on the gas. I lost some ground for not being as aggressive, but it seemed to pay off later in the race. When they started coming back to me, I was thrilled. To make some passes always feels nice!” P4 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi finished just outside the podium 1.494s behind Gerloff but 2.785s seconds ahead of Razgatlioglu. "During the Superpole I crashed, so I only had one lap. I started in tenth place. Then the race was quite strange. I started very well but then I didn’t have the pace at the beginning. And also, I went long in Turn 1, so I had to start again from P10. But I managed the tyre in a really good way and at the end I had more tyre and more speed than the ones in front of me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t pass Garrett or Jonny but I think that if I didn’t make that mistake at Turn 1, I could have finish in second place. We will try tomorrow.” P5 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Starting from eighth place on the grid, it was a top five finish for Razgatlioglu. - It was the first time in 17 races that Razgatlioglu did not lead a lap - The Reigning World Champion remains second in the Championship standings, but his advantage over Rea was reduced to eight points. “In the race, I had a very good start, but the end wasn’t fantastic because of a fifth position finish. In the last ten laps, I felt the rear tyre have a big drop. I keep fighting for a good position. For me, P5 isn’t enough. Tomorrow, we will try to improve. For me, in this race it was a big problem. I tried to follow Bautista and lap times were very fast, 41’9 and low 42s. I think I used the rear tyre a little bit too much in the first laps, and after that it started to drop. Tomorrow, my plan is to start calmer because the rear tyre is important in the last six laps.” P6 – Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) - Starting from pole position, his first one in WorldSBK, Lecuona was fighting at the front but dropped at the start of the race to take sixth place. - Lecuona went for an alternative tyre strategy, using Pirelli’s SC0 tyre “Until this morning I was happy. I feel good with the bike, I feel fast. I can ride alone. In the Superpole, I didn’t expect to get the pole but I followed Jonathan and of course the reference helped me. But I have the speed and this is the positive, and also a lot of confidence in myself and the bike to have a good race. But until mid-race, I felt good, consistent. I went with the hard tyre and I managed the grip. But we always have the same problem, in the last laps we struggled a lot, in the last five laps I lost the podium. I couldn’t do anything. I didn’t have the tyre for this battle. I’m not happy, I’m frustrated. We need to solve this problem. It happens at every race and for me it’s the worst feeling.”

To note: Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) was the lead BMW rider in 10th place. Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) crashed at Turn 3 after contact with Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with Bernardi re-joining the race, before bringing his bike back to the pits, and van der Mark continuing. Van der Mark will have a Long Lap penalty in the next race for irresponsible riding. On Lap 3, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed at Lap 1 which put the British rider out of the race. Van der Mark retired from the race after a technical issue on Lap 9 of 20. WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 09:00 (Local Time), followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 15:15.

WorldSBK Results Race 1 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +8.665s 3. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +9.289s 4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +10.783s 5. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +13.568s 6. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +13.655s Championship standings (after Race 1 - Round 8) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (357 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (313 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (305 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole 1. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) 1’40.766s 2. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.023s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.217s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#Catalunya #CATWorldSBK #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

[sbknews]

Lecuona leads Rinaldi and Razgatlioglu in Friday Free Practice

The Spanish Rookie topped the combined timesheets in a strong showing from Honda. Friday highlights - WorldSBK  P1 – Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) - Lecuona led FP1, half a second quicker than the rest of the field. Despite being 12th in the afternoon session, his fastest lap from FP1 allowed him to keep first place in the timings. - He set his lap time on the soft ‘SCQ style’ front tyre in the morning session and was not able to improve in the afternoon session. “P1 on this first day is not 100% real but it’s true that I have the speed. I worked alone all day. In the morning, in FP1, I put the SCQ tyre on because we need some data for the Superpole Race. I also used the SCX where my lap time is three tenths slower than Toprak and Rinaldi. I go close, I go alone, and I feel confident. In FP2, I worked for the race. I used just one set of tyres, the SC0, so the hard one just because Rinaldi won here last year by three seconds using it. We want to try. I feel good, I feel strong. We will see. Alvaro went very fast; I checked his pace and it was amazing. I’m very close to Jonny. We will see tomorrow, with the weather conditions, anything can happen. In Superpole, the realistic goal is to stay in the first two rows for the first time. I think I have the speed. In the race, I feel confident and strong, and my pace is similar to Jonny. I know Kawasaki struggle here a lot. Maybe we have the chance to fight for the podium.” P2 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi was the lead Ducati rider in second in the combined classification. - He set his fastest time in the morning session, 0.535s behind Lecuona’s best time. “It was a different Friday because the forecast for this weekend is strange, it looks like it will rain. So, we had to try every tyre that Pirelli bring us only in two sessions. This was our plan, not working too much on the set up or the electronic. In the end, we improved a little bit in those area. This morning, we tried the SCX and then B0800 rear tyre and this afternoon, I used only one set of tyrse to try to make race distance. I'm really happy about our pace and our speed but of course we can always improve a little bit. I think we are quite consistent.” P3 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu’s best time of 1'41.991s meant he was third overall at the end of Friday. - He wasn’t able to improve his best time in the afternoon, being only sixth in FP2. “It was a good Friday for me. In every session, we tried to find a good set up for the race. But tomorrow, I think it will rain, and we will need to try some new set ups. We're happy. The Ducati are very fast, but we'll keep fighting in the race. For me, it's a positive Friday. In FP2, we tried this new set up and I tried the shorter race simulation and I understood what was working or not. It was good to find the set up for this race. The afternoon was very positive. It looks like we are ready to race, our pace is not bad. I think we'll be fighting for the win again."  P4 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Bautista was quicker in the afternoon session, setting a best time of 1'42.018s putting him in fourth place overall. - He ran a 15-lap race run at the start of FP2, 14 of them were in the 1’42s – most of them in the middle. "Things have been very positive because we could do both practice in dry conditions. At the end of FP2, there were some drop of rain, but it didn’t change our plans. I’m happy with the feeling of the bike. In the morning, we tried different front tyres and also the rear from Magny-Cours. With the rear, I didn’t have the same feeling as in Magny-Cours. With the front, I didn’t really have good feedback in the morning but in the afternoon, we came back to our front base tyre and I felt much better. We also tried the SCX tyre and I tried to manage the tyre to do many laps in a row. The feeling was not bad. We worked a lot with the electronics, to use less power and a bit more TC control, to save the life of the tyre more than looking at the performance. We were consistent for 15 laps without destroying the tyre. So I’m happy because I’ve felt good also on the front.” P5 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Rea finished fifth overall, only 0.040s behind Bautista’s best time, and 0.662s behind Lecuona. - He also did a 15-lap race run but was only into the 1’42s on four laps, with the final two of them being towards the high end. "Friday was not so bad. I was working a lot to try and understand the tyre. We know Barcelona is a difficult track. There is always some tyre drop. The first lap is always very fast and the last lap have some drops. So it was trying to understand the bike in different situations. In the afternoon, I was able to do a longer run to understand where that was coming, how we could adapt the bike for FP3 tomorrow. You never know if the rain is coming here. Let's say in the wet it's more of a lottery, because you can have wet, wet-wet, you can have drying wet, wet with drying line, ... you never know how to deal the perfect set up. In the dry it's clearer, you understand from Friday where you're going to be, things to work on. But we'll try to make the best possible." P6 – Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Locatelli was sixth overall, but was third in FP2, just 0.067s from the top time. "I'm really happy about the first day. The feeling with the bike was immediately really good, especially in FP1. Today, the feeling was a bit different in FP2 and also it wasn't easy to do a lap time. But again, the feeling was not so bad and I think we have a good base set up here in Barcelona, especially after the test here in August. We worked very well, we were really fast here. Today I'm really happy and I have a lot of confidence with the bike so I want to continue on this line. Tomorrow we have the first race and it will be important to be in front. I think in the last rounds, we understood a bit more about the bike and also how we can do to use the new tyre, it was a difficult moment but today we have a good reference and we understand much." To note: Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was also impressive as he was fifth in FP2, finishing in seventh place overall. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was the lead BMW rider in 10th place. WorldSBK action resumes on Saturday from 09:00 (Local Time), followed by Tissot Superpole at 11:10 and Race 1 at 14:00.

WorldSBK Combined Results after FP2 1. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) 1’41.396s 2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.535s 3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.595s 4. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.622s 5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.662s 6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.689s

For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#Catalunya #CATWorldSBK #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

[sbknews]

Razgatlioglu takes Race 2 victory ahead of Rinaldi at Magny-Cours

Razgatlioglu takes Race 2 victory ahead of Rinaldi at Magny-Cours, Rea penalised for Bautista clash. Championship leader Alvaro Bautista was forced to retire from Race 2 after an early clash with Rea. Race 2 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) - Razgatlioglu won Race 2 after battling with Rinaldi and Bassani. - He moved up in the Championship standings, and his gap to Bautista is now just 30 points. "Today we were very strong. We won in the Superpole Race and, for me, Race 2 was very important. We normally take very big points from Race 2. I’m very happy today. This is my favourite track and we won again. Normally, my dream for this weekend is three wins but Saturday for me was bad luck. On Saturday, my big problem was the brake but today we changed all the kit and I’m feeling much better. Also, we improved the bike a little bit and I keep fighting for the win. I’m not thinking about the Championship. I don’t know how many points; I’m looking race by race and fighting for the win. Today, I am very happy. Alvaro had a crash. This is racing. This weekend was a strange weekend for all the riders!”

P2 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Rinaldi was the lead Ducati rider and took second place to claim his best result of 2022. - He moved into fourth place in the Championship, one point ahead of Locatelli. “It’s been difficult to get the results that we have showed we can get. This podium means a lot to me. It was also a really nice race, because I fought really hard with Jonny, with Axel and with Toprak so I enjoyed it. The last part of the race, maybe in the middle part, I was pushing too much and didn’t save the tyre for the last laps. I tried to stay with Toprak and fight in the last laps, but my tyre was almost finished. I couldn’t push too much. I need to be happy with second place. It’s good to be back on the podium.” P3 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Bassani claimed third position for his second podium at the 2022 French Round; the first time he has taken more than one podium in a single round. - He stands in sixth place in the Championship standings and is the top Independent rider. “I tried to stay in front all the race. It was the first time for me in front of the race. It was difficult but I tried. And now I understood some things. I want to continue like this. Two podium places in one weekend is incredible. It’s the first time I’m achieving it in my career and also for my team. Now we are very consistent, and I want to continue this way. I want to repeat these results in Barcelona.” 

P4 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes took his third fourth place finish of the French Round finishing six seconds ahead of Rea. “We had three fourth positions and that’s really a bit disappointed that we couldn’t make on of them into a podium. I’ve felt good this weekend. I’ve felt good with the bike in wet and dry conditions. We found an improvement with the rear of the bike at the Montmelo test and this has been good for me. It allows me to have a bit more confidence coming off the corner. Today, once the temperature rose up a little bit, I felt good on the bike. Axel did a great job, gave me no opportunity to pass him. It’s nice to see the young guys coming up and doing well. But I feel as fast and motivated as ever. I feel like I’m riding well and I’m looking forward to start kicking on for the second part of the season.” P5 – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Following his Long Lap Penalty after the clash with Bautista, Rea was only able to make up a couple of places to finish fifth. - Rea’s winless streak now spans 12 races, his longest since a run of 33 without a win in 2012 and 2013. - He now stands in third place in the Championship, 47 points behind Bautista. “Firstly, I’m really sorry Bautista went down. There was some contact there. I’ve been to see him already and offered him my apologies and gave my point of view. I listened to him so, for me, I’ve turned the page now. I arrived at Turn 13 with zero bad intentions. I only had to make a pass; I knew that Toprak would be the guy with the pace. I tried to make a good last sector before the long back straight. I went down to the inside, he committed to the apex so, of course, there was contact. For me, it wasn’t an over the line manoeuvre. I made my apex. I didn’t blow my own corner. Of course, I’m sorry he lost points; I don’t want to ride in this way. I got the penalty. I didn’t know whether to expect something or not and I had to take it.” P6 – Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) - Redding took sixth place having lost fifth position to Rea when he ran wide at the 180 Degree corner. - Redding is on a run of ten races inside the top ten “Sixth place, today it was not the result I wanted. I always say I need to be minimum fourth. I struggled a little bit in acceleration areas at this track. When you are racing against the top guys, in the same class, it’s hard to override in areas so you then start to come into problems, like destroying the front tyre, which I then went on to do. Then my pace started to slow down a little bit more and I had to manage the race a bit different. I’m kind of happy because the situation that we’re in, where we came, I would have liked a bit more but that was everything I had.” To note: On Lap 2 at Turn 13, when Jonathan Rea made contact with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati); the Ducati rider going through the gravel and retiring from the race. Rea was deemed to be at fault for the clash and was given a Long Lap Penalty which he served on Lap 7, re-joining the race in seventh after losing a few positions. Discussing the incident from his point of view, Bautista said: “The manoeuvre was out of the limits, for me. This wasn’t a mistake from Jonathan, he intentionally came to me. I think it’s unacceptable, these kinds of things, coming from any rider but especially coming from a great Champion like him. This kind of action, he showed he’s very fast, very brave, he’s a Champion. He won in the past, he wins, he stayed at the front, but he showed a Champion cannot do this kind of action. For me, it’s unacceptable. It’s nice for the Championship but, for me, it’s strange for me that if the stewards consider that it was a bad manoeuvre from Jonathan and they gave him a Long Lap Penalty, I think, it’s not enough. I get out of the race and he finished in fifth place; I think it’s not fair.” Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) finished ninth on home soil whilst Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 12th and Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) 16th. The Catalunya Round will take place from the 23rd to 25th of September at Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

WorldSBK Results Race 2 1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +2.024s 3. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +4.742s 4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +5.084s 5. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +10.679s 6. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +11.955s Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 7) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (332 points) 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (302 points) 3. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (285 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) 2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.891s 3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +2.040s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#FRAWorldSBK #MagnyCours #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022

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Bautista claims WorldSBK Race 1 victory as Rea & Razgatlioglu crash out

Bautista claims WorldSBK Race 1 victory as Rea & Razgatlioglu crash out from the lead battle. There was drama everywhere you looked in Race 1 as Bautista extended his Championship lead... Race 1 highlights - WorldSBK P1 – Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - Taking the lead of the race on Lap 7 of 21, Bautista claimed his first win at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours. - He increased his Championship lead to 56 points over Rea. “I saw Jonathan crash, and then Toprak made some mistakes and then went into the gravel, so I decided to stay calm and not make mistakes, just to finish the race and get a good feeling with the bike. Lap by lap, I started to feel better and better and decided to try and get the lead, get my pace and push to my feedback. I did a couple of good lap times to get some advantage with Scott, and then in the last laps I just had to manage the distance. It was an important victory especially here at a track that is never good for us.”

P2 – Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) - Battling at the front with Bautista, Redding took second place, his best result so far with BMW. - Redding’s Race 1 podium was his 40th in the Championship. “It was a good day. I was really happy with the front row. In the race, I got a good start and I felt strong and I thought “let’s go” and let’s get stuck in from the start. And then it just went wild for a few laps. I think I took the lead at some point, and then Toprak came and passed me, and then Jonathan passed me, and then Jonathan crashed out … and I was pushing again to catch up Toprak. Then I looked ahead, and he was just bucking and bucking and bucking. Then I found myself in the lead, and I thought ‘stay calm, push, find your rhythm’. I did what I could. I had Alvaro catching me. I tried to fight with him for as long as possible. I did what I could. And then I had Alvaro catching me. I tried to fight with him, but it was impossible.” P3 – Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) - Bassani benefitted from Rea, Razgatlioglu and Baz going down to finish third and claim his second WorldSBK podium. - It was Bassani’s first podium in dry conditions as he took third place “Finally, we got a podium! It’s really good for me and the team; we made good work this weekend and I’m really happy! I want to enjoy the moment and nothing more. Now is the moment to push and to try and continue in this way. It will be difficult but we’re here for this and we will try. It’s really important for me to beat the other Ducatis, especially the factory Ducati. I think it’s normal; I want to continue in this way and I hope it’s possible to beat Alvaro and not just Michael.” P4 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) - Lowes finished just outside the podium to claim his best finish since Donington Race 1. "I’m disappointed with my race. I felt like my pace in practice was good. In Superpole, I did four laps the same but I couldn’t do one lap that was good enough to be on the front row. I was so expecting to be on the front row. Then in the race I felt good, I just couldn’t get pass Rinaldi at the start. He was passing on every corner. The Ducati is so hard to race against. 10 laps sort of messing around… I’ve lost my rhythm a little bit. But I came back at the end. Fourth place. There were some parts of the track where my bike was working really well and I was able to capitalise on that. I’ve felt like I could have done better but we have two more chances tomorrow and I’ll try to get a podium.” P5 – Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) - Running Pirelli’s new development soft front tyre, Gerloff dropped back as the race progressed to cross the finish line in fifth place. “It was nice to be top five in Superpole and then top five in the race. It’s my best of the year and I hate saying that because I was hoping that already we would be on the podium by now but it’s going the right way. I’ve felt good all weekend.  As soon as we got here everything seems like it was working very well.” P6 – Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) - While battling for third place with Bassani, Rinaldi went through the gravel on the exit of Turn 1 and through Turn 2 on Lap 14. He was able to recover to finish in sixth place. “We had a really good speed today. It was a strange race today because we usually don’t see Toprak and Jonny make this kind of mistakes. Anyway, I felt good on the bike during the race. I was fighting a lot with Lowes in the first laps, then I was able to put my pace, catch Bassani and then my aim was to also overtake Baz, but he crashed out. I was then third and I saw Scott and I thought we could make a 1-2 today. But unfortunately, I had a problem with the gear box on the bump, and I went on the gravel which make me loose the podium. We can improve from today and I think that a podium is possible tomorrow.”

To note: Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashed on the exit of Turn 17 at the end of Lap 2. He was able to re-join the race to finish 24th. Rea’s crash extends a winless run to 10 races; his worst since 2019 when he went 11 races without a win. Discussing the crash, Rea said: “It’s frustrating because the crime didn’t really fit the penalty. I was in the last chicane. Just got caught out. Part of my front fork sensor touched the kerb on the left, just enough to pick up the front. Such small margins to put me down. My bike was pretty bent, so I tried, on the side of the track, bend the handlebars as quickly as good. It was so bent I needed to put it into position. I had to stop in the pitlane. The guys adjusted it and we were able to do the rest of the race, so we got 20 laps of data."

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) also crashed out in the early stages of the race at Turn 13. He was able to continue to cross the finish line in 11th place. Reacting to wild Saturday, Razgatlioglu said: “We started really well in the race, but just the big problem for me is the braking. In the race, I’m always changing the setting for the brake lever. I arrived at Turn 11, and I felt the brake lever was very close with my finger. At Turn 13, I’m feeling my finger and the brake lever very close. I tried to brake the same as Turn 11 but the brake lever came more open, I felt too much braking and the rear went up.” Local hero Loris Baz was fighting for a podium position but crashed at Turn 13. He was able to re-join the race to take 14th position. Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) finished in the top 10. WorldSBK action resumes on Sunday from 09:00 (Local Time), followed by Tissot Superpole Race at 11:00 and Race 2 at 15:15.

WorldSBK Results Race 1 1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 2. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +4.079s 3. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) +6.751s 4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +8.531s 5. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +9.022s 6. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +17.260s Championship standings (after Race 1 - Round 7) 1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (323 points) 2. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (267 points) 3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (265 points) WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole 1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’36.124s 2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.000s 3. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.109s For more info checkout our dedicated World Superbike News page World Superbike News Or visit the official World Superbike website WorldSBK.com Read the full article

#FRAWorldSBK #MagnyCours #Pirelli #Tissot #WorldSBK #WorldSBK2022