Portimao WSBK: Razgatlioglu hangs on to win Superpole race
Toprak Razgatlioglu made it two wins out of two in the Portimao World Superbike round after defeating Alvaro Bautista in a straight duel in the Superpole race.
Razgatlioglu blasted past pole-sitter Jonathan Rea at the start of the 10-lap sprint but soon had to contend with the championship-leading Ducati of Bautista, the two engaging in the kind of battle that has characterised much of the 2022 season.
Bautista was able to use the sheer grunt of his Ducati to snatch the lead from Razgatlioglu at the start of lap 2, but the Turkish rider fought back with the strengths of his Yamaha to reinstate the status quo.
With four laps to go Bautista was again able to inch ahead of the Yamaha on the start/finish straight, but Razgatlioglu managed to outbrake the Spanish rider to hold on to the lead.
Bautista continued to put the pressure on Razgatlioglu in the final laps of the race, but the defending champion was able to fend him off to score his 10th win of the 2022 season and reduce the deficit to Bautista in the standings.
Rea didn’t complete fall away from the leading duo as was the case in Saturday’s opening race, but the Kawasaki rider wasn’t really able to put up a real fight either and ended up 1.4s adrift in third.
Alex Lowes’ upturn in performance continued as he took the chequered flag in fourth, only half a second down on his Kawasaki teammate Rea, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi was a strong fifth on the second of the factory Ducatis.
Top independent rider honours went to Axel Bassani on the Motocorsa Ducati in sixth, as Garrett Gerloff crashed his GRT Yamaha with four laps remaining.
Factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli finished seventh, while BMW’s Michael van der Mark secured his best result since his return from injury in eighth.
Loriz Baz (Bonovo BMW) and Xavi Vierge (Honda) completed the top 10.
Portimao WSBK - Race results:
Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Yamaha | |
2 | 19 | Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | 0.123 |
3 | 65 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 1.434 |
4 | 22 | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki | 1.976 |
5 | 21 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | Ducati | 3.965 |
6 | 47 | Axel Bassani | Ducati | 5.969 |
7 | 55 | Andrea Locatelli | Yamaha | 6.067 |
8 | 60 | Michael van der Mark | BMW | 11.297 |
9 | 76 | Loris Baz | BMW | 11.945 |
10 | 97 | Xavi Vierge | Honda | 12.014 |
11 | 5 | Philipp Oettli | Ducati | 12.692 |
12 | 7 | Iker Lecuona | Honda | 12.937 |
13 | 45 | Scott Redding | BMW | 15.165 |
14 | 44 | Lucas Mahias | Kawasaki | 18.996 |
15 | 50 | Eugene Laverty | BMW | 20.677 |
16 | 33 | Jake Gagne | Yamaha | 20.816 |
17 | 17 | Marvin Fritz | Yamaha | 24.172 |
18 | 29 | Luca Bernardi | Ducati | 24.575 |
19 | 91 | Leon Haslam | Kawasaki | 25.909 |
20 | 3 | Kohta Nozane | Yamaha | 26.206 |
21 | 36 | Leandro Mercado | Honda | 26.421 |
22 | 23 | Christophe Ponsson | Yamaha | 27.390 |
23 | 35 | Hafizh Syahrin | Honda | 29.711 |
24 | 52 | Oliver Konig | Kawasaki | 45.459 |
31 | Garrett Gerloff | Yamaha | ||
2 | Roberto Tamburini | Yamaha | ||
View full results |
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