Toprak Razgatlioglu received FIM Superbike World Championship Race One Saturday at Circuito de Barcelona-Catalunya, in Spain. Using his ROKiT BMW M 1000 RR, the Turkish racer received the 20-lap race by 0.868 second.
Nicolo Bulega was the runner-up on his Aruba.it Racing Ducati, and Bulega’s teammate, defending Champion Alvaro Bautista, positioned third.
American Garrett Gerloff completed twelfth on his Bonovo Motion BMW.
Extra, from a press launch issued by Dorna:
Beautiful first win for Toprak and BMW
Toprak Razgatlioglu claims his first victory for BMW
Double podium for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati with Alvaro Bautista recovering from the fifth row of the grid
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Workforce WorldSBK) concedes the Championship lead with a sixth place end
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) led nearly all of the race. At one level the Italian had opened a 4 second lead however in Catalunya tyre consumption is a key issue and with a tougher entrance tyre Razgatlioglu may shut down that margin. The BMW rider would take the lead on the twentieth and remaining lap.
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), winner of six races in a row at this circuit, was handed a grid penalty that dropped him to the fifth row of the grid for the beginning. The reigning World Champion recovered to complete third and transfer as much as fourth place within the Championship standings. Andrea Iannone (Workforce GoEleven) continued to impress as a rookie with a fourth place end. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Workforce WorldSBK) began the race because the Championship chief and completed in sixth place. Lowes dropped a single level behind Bulega within the Championship standings with Razgatlioglu now third.
Having smashed the lap file within the Superpole session Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Workforce) was aiming for a podium in Race 1 on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. As a substitute the Turkish star got here from behind to say the race victory within the opening race of the Pirelli Catalunya Spherical.
The win marked BMW’s first success since 2021 and validated Razgatlioglu’s choice to change producers for this season. His teammate, Michael van der Mark, had been combative all through the race earlier than falling to ninth place on the end.
Extra on worldsbk.com
P1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Workforce
“I’m actually pleased. Every single day the crew has achieved an unbelievable job they usually have labored actually onerous. It’s vital for me to win at this circuit as a result of I’ve by no means received right here. It’s been a dream of mine to win in Catalunya and that is unbelievable. It was a really onerous race. My plan was to experience somewhat bit slower than the others and in the beginning I used to be ready for Bulega as a result of the opposite riders had been pushing very onerous. After Bulega had come previous I believed I’d observe him. After two laps later I felt that I used to be pushing too onerous. I slowed down to save lots of the rear tyre. I believed a podium can be sufficient for me. Within the final 5 laps right here, the rear tyre has an enormous drop. I noticed Iannone began to drop after which Bulega additionally dropped within the final 5 laps. I used to be pushing onerous, particularly on the brakes. On the final lap, I handed him. Possibly it was a very good technique for me.”
P2 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“This was my first lengthy race as a result of we had pit stops in Australia. On the finish of the race sadly I had no grip from the rear tyre. It was tough for me to handle this and Toprak was very quick on the finish. His lap instances had been higher than mine. Possibly, I push somewhat too onerous in the beginning of the race to overhaul riders. At present, I realized one thing and I will likely be higher ready subsequent time.”
P3 | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“It’s by no means straightforward as a result of this monitor is so difficult. You must handle the tyres. I used to be within the state of affairs that I wished to push extra within the first laps to achieve some positions however I additionally needed to save my tyres. I attempted to maintain calm and to handle the tyre in addition to potential. I had some issues within the massive group as a result of the entrance overheated. I had to avoid wasting slides with my elbow. When you find yourself behind the opposite riders, the entrance tyre doesn’t work as anticipated and I struggled to brake onerous or enter quick into corners. I believe our greatest was to get a podium, however this was a shock for me.”
Extra, from a press launch issued by Pirelli:
Razgatlioğlu gambles on the Pirelli normal SCX to win Race 1
The BMW rider bested Bulega (Ducati) on the finish of the ultimate lap; in WorldSSP Huertas (Ducati) wins his first race within the class
In Race 1 of the Catalan spherical, the primary European cease for the FIM World Superbike Championship, after a solitary experience all the way in which to the ultimate lap, Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) gave over to Toprak Razgatlioğlu just some turns from the end line. The 2 began the race with totally different tyre selections: SC2 on the entrance and SCX on the rear for the Turkish rider; SC1 entrance and SCX-A (C0900 improvement specification) on the rear for the Italian. Third on the rostrum was Álvaro Bautista (Ducati), additionally with the identical tyre mixture as his teammate and in addition making a comeback experience which was rewarded just some laps from the tip when he overtook Andrea Iannone (Ducati)
Giorgio Barbier, Bike Racing Director
Each rear selections legitimate for the race
“Since yesterday, the riders had been undecided as to which rear answer to make use of. This will occur generally within the Friday periods, as a result of the riders and groups nonetheless have to optimise the bike setup. Then, within the race right now, we noticed that each the rear options – the usual SCX and the C0900 specification improvement tyre – carried out equally. On one hand, we noticed that Toprak Razgatlioğlu began from pole place on the SCX and remained within the battle for first, lastly reaching it on the ultimate lap. Then again, the C0900 specification improvement SCX, at its debut in race, allowed Bulega to remain within the race lead all the way in which to the ultimate flip and it even allowed his teammate Bautista to return again from fourteenth to 3rd place. For tomorrow’s race, we may even see some modifications for a few of the riders, whereas for the Superpole Race, we count on a lot of the riders to make use of the SCQ compound rear.”
Tyres In Motion
· The WorldSBK Superpole session was extraordinarily quick, with an incredible ten riders breaking the earlier monitor file for the class. The perfect was Toprak Razgatlioğlu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Workforce), forward of Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Andrea Iannone (Workforce GoEleven – Ducati). All three relied on the entrance SC1 – rear SCQ mixture to do their finest instances.
· Tyre selections on the grid for Race 1 in Superbike had been unsure till simply earlier than the beginning. Whereas the SC1 on the entrance was the preferred selection, on the rear, there was a better combination of options, nearly equally cut up between the SCX and the C0900.
· In WorldSSP, the mix most well-liked by the highest three riders within the Superpole standings was the SC1 on the entrance and the SCX on the rear. In Race 1, the SC1 on the entrance was the frequent selection for all of the riders with the only real exception of Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), who selected the SC2. On the rear, selections had been equally divided between the SC0 and the SCX. In Race 1, Spaniard Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Workforce) took his first win within the class forward of Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) and Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse). The three riders on the rostrum made similar selections for the entrance within the race, utilizing the SC1; on the rear, Huertas and Schroetter raced on the SCX, whereas Manzi was on the SC0.
· Within the classes devoted to younger expertise, the primary WorldSSP300 race win of the season went to Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM-PALIGO Racing) forward of Aldi Satya Mahendra (Workforce BrCorse) and Samuel Di Sora (ARCO MotoR College Workforce – Yamaha). Within the FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup, Spaniard Gonzalo Sanchez Melendez (bLU cRU Yamaha Racing Spain) took the win, besting Eduardo Burr (Yamaha AD78 Workforce Latin America) and Marc Vich (DS Racing College) within the race finale.
