Toprak breaks through for victory with BMW on Saturday at Catalunya

WorldSBK 2024 – Round Two
Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya
Saturday

WorldSBK riders reflect on race one

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P1

“I am really happy. Thanks to my team, they did an unbelievable job with really hard work and finally we are winning. This victory has special importance for me as I never won here on this circuit before. It has been my dream and finally I have a victory in Catalunya. This is an unbelievable moment because this race was really hard. If we win here, I think fighting will be easier on other race tracks. After Bulega passed me, I just followed him but after two laps I said, okay, I am pushing a little bit too hard for the rear tyre. The podium is enough for me because I know that on this track, the rear tyres have a big drop on the last five laps. Then on the last five, six laps I saw that Bulega started to drop and I pushed hard, especially on the brakes. At the first round of the season I felt a lot of pressure as I was my first weekend with BMW but here that was not the case anymore but as Markus Flasch is here, we wanted to achieve something for him. To get pole position and win the race made it an unbelievable day. We have two more races tomorrow and now we will focus on those.”

Nicolò Bulega – P2

“I can’t say I’m very happy because I was first with a big lead until two laps to go. Unfortunately, in the final part of the race I no longer had grip on the rear and this did not allow me to manage the advantage I had built. On the other hand, however, this is an important experience that I can use in the future. I learned something today and tomorrow I will try to do better.”

Alvaro Bautista – P3

“It was very difficult to make it back to the front group starting from 14th position. And honestly, I don’t understand the reasons for the penalty because during qualifying my low speed didn’t create any problems for any other rider. I am happy with this podium but I  don’t have the best feeling with my bike yet. We have to keep working and improve.”

Andrea Iannone – P4

“I’m happy with the qualifying we did, it was important to be able to start on the front row and we did it. Here in Montmelò it was my first long race, twenty laps, after many years. The conditions of this circuit, which have always been critical , they taught me that waiting to push was useless. I could have gone faster straight away but I preferred to wait to push so as not to wear the tyres excessively. When on the twelfth lap I wanted to give my all I realized that the tyres anyway they weren’t there and at that point I lost the initial speed. We’ll understand what strategy to get tomorrow with this awareness. Despite the effort it was very good, we came close to the podium, naturally we’re not satisfied, but I think it’s a good starting point!”

Andrea Locatelli – P5

“Well, it was for sure a difficult race today, but I think in the end we managed not too bad. We got the top five, but I am not happy enough so let’s see where we can improve and we try pushing hard tomorrow to recover some positions to try to make a podium. It’s not so far, if maybe we can find something we can be fighting again for the podium. Today was difficult to manage both tyres front and rear, and we need to understand what we can work on and what we can do to try to be fast at the end of the race.”

Alex Lowes – P6

“It was a solid day for us. We knew from our experiences at the recent test and during Free Practice on Friday that we are struggling a bit here. Low grip and long corners seem to be difficult for us. But we did a solid job and we managed the grip that we had well. Our pace was OK and I’m sure we can improve a bit for tomorrow. In general, we will take a top six today and see what we can do tomorrow. It would be nice to be closer to the podium fight at the team’s home race.”

Danilo Petrucci – P7

“Today was a really tough race, with a few too many nudges at the start. I lost a couple of positions due to contact between turn two and turn three with Gardner, then I recovered. Unfortunately, to make up ground, I stressed the rear tire too much and in the end, in the last two laps, both Locatelli and Lowes passed me; from fifth, I finished seventh. It’s a shame because at a certain point in the race, I thought I could reach the podium, but it’s okay, we’ll try again tomorrow.”

Dominique Aegerter – P8

“It was overall a positive day. In the FP3 we were fastest and it’s always great to see your name on the top, it gave us a lot of motivation. Then, in the qualifying my lap time was under the lap record but we still couldn’t climb higher than sixth, which wasn’t too bad. Afterwards, my Race 1 start was ok but I lost some places and then tried to recover. It was a survival race trying to save the tyres and at the end we scored good points and gained good data. I’ll try to push even more tomorrow.”

Michael van der Mark – P9

“My day was honestly not too bad. I had a really good feeling this morning in Superpole and I worked really well together with Toprak. So we had P1 and P4 on the grid which was really good. I also felt really strong with the bike. In the race, I had an okay start. On the first few laps, I did not get the right feeling but then I found a good rhythm and a good pace. I was in P4 for a long time but unfortunately at the end I struggled too much with the tyre wear. I might have pushed a bit too hard in the beginning. We have to analyse it. But I think that the results shows that we are coming and Toprak winning on the BMW M 1000 RR is just amazing so I am really happy with the overall day for the whole team.”

Axel Bassani – P10

“It has been a difficult race today because we had to manage things through the race and never pushed. It was important to arrive in good condition at the end of the race. It is not so much fun to do a race like that but at this moment we are at that point. Now we have to try to improve, especially in the first part of the race. Tomorrow we will see if we are able to finish inside the top ten in the Superpole Race to help us have a good Race Two.”

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Garrett Gerloff – P12

“It has not been my most memorable day here in Catalunya. Qualifying could have been better and the race could have been better. I don’t feel too bad but everybody is going really fast and it is just hard to stand out and move forward for me at the moment, I guess. But congratulations to Toprak on the win. It’s crazy impressive and we will try some stuff for tomorrow and see if we can improve.”

Remy Gardner – P15

“It definitely wasn’t the result we were hoping for. The morning was promising, showing good speed and I felt we could fight for the front. Then, in the Tissot Superpole qualifier, I managed to be faster than the lap record missing out on a second row start for just few thousandths of a second. To start from eighth wasn’t ideal, but not too bad. The early stages of Race 1 were hectic, but I was fighting with those around thinking I could stay with the group until the end. Unfortunately, I had a massive drop with the tyre life and struggled with grip in the second part of the race, something that I haven’t experience with any other tyre over the weekend, so I think the rear tyre had a problem, in the last laps I was very slow, for me this is not normal. We’ll now check what happened and make our best to bounce back tomorrow, hoping that it won’t happen again.”

Scott Redding – P17

“Qualifying was not too bad. We managed to salvage some of the struggles of this weekend to qualify 12th and moved up to 11th due to someone having a penalty. That was okay but I knew that in the race I would still struggle a little bit because the pace for the weekend has not been where we want. Then in the race we made a change on the bike which didn’t work in a positive way, making the braking area more difficult for me to brake late so it was hard to overtake. Then with about seven laps to go, my rear tyre dropped massively. That was basically the race for me. I was trying to manage it as best as I could. We hope that we can find something for tomorrow because we had the pace to be in the small group in front of me. We just need to find a little bit for tomorrow.”

Jonathan Rea – DNF

“Following a successful test aboard the R1 here last week, and after making significant progress during Free Practice yesterday, I was quietly confident about fighting for a good result in the race today. Qualifying didn’t go quite according to plan, but the longer runs yesterday where we focused on tyre conservation for the race meant a strong result was possible today. Unfortunately, I fried the clutch off the start and didn’t even manage to complete a lap. I’m sorry for the team, who worked incredibly hard in the run up to this race only for it to end on the first lap. But now we will put this behind us and focus on tomorrow, where we need a strong performance in the Superpole Race to ensure a good grid position for Race 2.”

WorldSBK Race One Report

Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) claimed a hard-fought Race 1 win at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya to secure his first victory with BMW in just his fourth race, after hunting Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) down in the closing stages to take a sensational victory in a last-lap fight. BMW’s last victory was 902 days ago in the Tissot Superpole Race at Portimao in 2021, while their last feature-length race was in 2013 with Chaz Davies at the Nurburgring.

It was a disastrous start to Race 1 for Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) dropping down to last and pulling into the pits at the end of the opening lap. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) got a mega start from the second row to launch into victory contention and, after hounding Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) for the first two laps, made the move on the inside of Turn 5 to take the lead, and lead his first laps in WorldSBK in just his fourth race.

Once Sam Lowes got away from Razgatlioglu, he opened a gap to his BMW mounted pursuer but his race ended at Turn 10. He lost the front of his V4 R at the left-hand hairpin and crashed from the lead and handing P1 to Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who, after losing ground at the start, picked off his rivals one-by-one to move back towards the front.

With his competitors battling behind him, Bulega started checking out in front with incredible race pace, often lapping in the high 1’41s or low 1’42s in the first half of the race. He was able to open up a four-second lead just over the halfway stage. In the second half of the race, Bulega was lapping around half-a-second slower than Razgatlioglu as the 2021 Champion closed the four-second gap to 2.6s at the start of Lap 18.

At the start of the final lap, it was down to less than a second and the Turk was able to make the race-winning move at Turn 5. Razgatlioglu held on for victory with Bulega second, and the #11 claimed the Championship lead despite losing out on P1. Razgatlioglu joins an elusive club of riders who’ve now won with three different manufacturers, having tasted victory with Kawasaki, Yamaha and now BMW.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was penalised in the Tissot Superpole for slow riding on the racing line, dropping him from P11 to P14 on the grid. However, with his strong race pace in hand, Bautista fought back to claim a podium on home soil as he passed his rivals one-by-one to move up the order, including sensational moves in the final sector. He passed Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) on the run between Turns 13 and 14, before overtaking Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) through the final corner. The rookie was unable to hold off Bautista and finished in fourth, three seconds behind him after losing ground then the factory Ducati passed him. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) was the highest-placed Yamaha rider in fifth, finishing almost 1.3s down on Iannone and having a similar margin to Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), who fought for the five position in KRT’s home round.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) had looked like he’d be in the podium fight but lost ground in the closing stages, eventually being classified in seventh but less than a second behind Alex Lowes. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was able to maintain a place in the top ten as he finished P8, with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in ninth. The Dutchman, in the opening stages, was fighting in the top four but his pace dropped off and he eventually finished almost 17 seconds down on the race win. Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) made gains in Race 1, finishing tenth and only six seconds down on his teammate.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing), a race winner at this circuit previously, was 1.7 seconds away from a top ten finish as he came home in P11, beating Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) by half-a-second. The two Team HRC riders finished in 13th and 14th, led by Iker Lecuona ahead of Xavi Vierge, with only 0.039s separating the two Spaniards. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was the last points scorer.

Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) was just outside the points-paying positions as he finished two seconds away from Gardner ahead of two more Brits: Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) in 17th and Bradley Ray in 18th. Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) was 19th with Adam Norrodin (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) and Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completing the classified riders; Rabat was given a three-place penalty following Superpole for slow riding on the racing line.

WorldSBK Race One

WorldSBK Superpole

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP Race One

Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) ended a long wait for victory in the FIM Supersport World Championship with victory on home soil at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya as he fended off his rivals to win by just over a second. Huertas backed up his second pole of 2024 with victory during the Pirelli Catalunya Round, with Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) and Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) rounding out the podium.

Huertas led the race from Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in the early stages, with the #61 getting past on two occasions before the Ducati rider responded. Eventually, the Spaniard pulled out a gap as Oncu dropped back, eventually finishing in eighth. Manzi took second after breaking away from the chasing group, finishing 4.5 seconds clear of Schroetter in third. The German, who took two podiums last season here, was promoted to third when Lucas Mahias (GMt94 Yamaha) crashed at Turn 10 on Lap 10.

Huertas became the 63rd different winner in the Championship, and the sixth youngest at 20 years, seven months and two days old. It was also Ducati’s 24th win in WorldSSP. For Manzi, it was his 24th rostrum – 15 of which have been second place – while Schroetter’s third means he’s now on ten podiums following his switch from Moto2. He’s also the only rider to take three podiums out of three this year.

Luke Power was the highest finishing Australian in 18th place. Countryman Oli Bayliss had a difficult day in 21st while it was even worse for Tom Edwards who recorded a DNF.

WorldSSP Race One

WorldSSP Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race One

As ever in WorldSSP300, it was unpredictable right to the line. Jeffrey Buis tried to make a break heading into the final lap to start his KTM career on the top step but running wide at Turn 10 allowed his Iglesias through, with the #58 taking advantage to cross the line first. However, a three-second penalty for being unable to complete a Long Lap Penalty demoted him to 13th. Iglesias was penalised for an incident at Turn 5. Galang Hendra Pratama (ProGP NitiRacing) crashed out after contact with Matteo Vannucci (Pata Yamaha AG Motorsport Italia) and Iglesias with the incident investigated by the FIM Stewards and the #58 penalised, dropping him down the order. It allowed Buis to claim victory on the KTM RC 390 R for the first time, and also his 21st podium as he became the record-holder for podiums in the Championship. Aldi Satya Mahendra (Team BrCorse) was second with Samuel Di Sora (ARCO SASH MotoR University Team) in third after fighting his way from the back of the grid.

On Lap 1, Fenton Seabright (Kawasaki GP Project) and Philip Tonn (Freudenberg KTM – PALIGO Racing) came down at Turn 5, with British star Seabright able to re-join the race while Tonn was out of contention and taken to the medical centre for a check-up. He was declared fit following his check. Bruno Ieraci (Team ProDina Kawasaki) crashed at Turn 10 on Lap 2 despite a phenomenal opening lap and a half to fight for the lead. After a penalty from Warm Up for slow riding on the racing line which dropped him from P1 to P4 on the grid, Julio Garcia Gonzalez (KOVE Racing Team) fell out of the race with a technical problem on Lap 3.

With four laps to go, Daniel Mogeda (Team#109 Retro Traffic Kawasaki), Unai Calatayud (ARCO SASH MotoR University Team) and Kevin Sabatucci (Team Flembbo – PL Performances) crashed at Turn 5, with only Sabatucci re-joining the race, although. The incident was investigated by the FIM Stewards with no further action taken.

The final lap was as dramatic as ever, with Buis running wide and his rivals aiming to take advantage. However, behind, Jose Manuel Osuna Saez (DEZA-BOX 77 Racing Team) had made great progress to fight at the front, but he crashed on his own at Turn 10 which dropped him out of contention. The Spanish rider started from the back of the grid after a technical issue before the Warm Up lap forced him into the pits before being allowed to start from last.

Fifth place went to Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) after teammate Mirko Gennai was given a one-place penalty for exceeding track limits on the final lap, with the Italian classified in sixth. Marc Garcia (KOVE Racing Team), who set the fastest lap and will start Race 2 from first, was seventh with Ruben Bijman (Team Flembbo – PL Performances) eighth after a one-place penalty. Marco Gaggi (Team BrCorse) was ninth with wildcard Emanuele Cazzaniga (Racestar) completing the top ten after a penalty for Elia Bartolini (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSSP300 Team).

WorldSSP300 Race One Results

FIM Yamaha R3 bLU cRU World Cup Race One Results

WorldSBK Calendar