Tissot Superpole Highlights
- Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) smashed the lap record at Donington Park to claim the 15th pole position of his career. The Turkish star finished the session with an advantage of over half a second from Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) Bulega continued his run of five consecutive front row starts while a track limit infringement cost his teammate, Alvaro Bautista. The reigning World Champion’s time was deleted and a potential second row start became 11th on the grid Track limits and yellow flag infringements also cost Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) leading grid positions while Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) set the third fastest time Redding’s front row start was his first since Magny Cours in 2022
- Starting from pole position Razgatlioglu led from the start and claimed his fifth consecutive WorldSBK victory. The victory margin of 11.384s was is the largest of Razgatlioglu’s career From the third row of the grid Alex Lowes was able to finish second after a combative ride. At two-thirds race distance the Kawasaki rider passed Bulega and then proceeded to open a comfortable margin in the closing laps. It is the fifth podium of the season for Lowes From the front row of the race Redding was able to stay in podium contention throughout the first half of the race. The BMW rider though suffered a technical problem in the closing stages but will still be able to avail of his leading grid position for tomorrow’s Tissot Superpole Race Bautista’s podium leaves him level on points with his teammate Bulega in the championship standings. The Spaniard was the only leading rider to use the softer SCX tyre and he used it well to come through from 11th on the grid to finish third. He overtook Bulega for the final step on the podium with four laps remaining Petrucci ended the race as the leading Independent rider in seventh position after battling with the Pata Prometeon Yamaha teammate’s Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli throughout the 23 lap race
- Razgatlioglu now holds a 33 point advantage over Bulega and Bautista who are now tied on 171 points
P1| Toprak Razgatlioglu | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
“This is an amazing feeling because Donington is my favourite track. This was a strong win with a big gap to the other riders. I’m fast this weekend and I take advantage of this because the Championship is important for me. We started the weekend very strong and when I did a race simulation yesterday my pace was amazing. It gave me confidence to know we are strong. I wasn’t pushing in the corners, I was just riding and I focused and I was patient and finished the race. It was a really good job by my team because every session we improved the bike and now the feeling with the bike is perfect. We have two more races tomorrow and I’ll try my best again.”
P2 | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK
“I’m really happy. After losing my lap in the Superpole I thought I might have made it a little bit more difficult for myself. It’s so competitive in World Superbike now and if you give the other guys a little bit it can be really hard to come back. There’s 15 guys who can be on the podium now but I really enjoyed this race. I felt my pace was strong and at the end of the race I was struggling a little bit with the front but I’m not going to complain about second place. Toprak was in his own race. It’s fantastic to be back on the podium. We’ve two more chances tomorrow but it’s a shame to be starting from 9th in the Superpole Race.”
P3 | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“It wasn’t easy because it’s always difficult to start from the back. There aren’t many places to overtake at Donington so I gambled and used the soft tyre on the rear. The track temperature was higher than all the weekend so I tried the SCX. During practice I did 10 laps with that tyre and I didn’t know what would happen using it. I’m happy because this was the maximum we could do in this race. The feeling with the bike isn’t the best right now but we have to improve because I can’t ride the bike as I want. I can’t push but we’ll try to do better tomorrow.”
WorldSBK Race 1 Results
WorldSBK Race 1 Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +11.384s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +13.167s
4. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +14.913s
5. Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +16.349s
6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +16.611s
Fastest Lap: Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW)– 1’25.786s (new race lap record)
Championship Standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 204 points
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 171 points
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 171 points
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 1’24.629s
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.573s
3. Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.777s
