Toprak Razgatlioglu won World Superbike Race Two Sunday at the Imola circuit, in Italy. Razgatlioglu won the 15-lap race by 1.966 seconds on his Pata Yamaha Prometeon YZF-R1.
It was Razgatlioglu’s first full-distance race win of the season, breaking a streak of 13 consecutive full-length race wins so far in 2023 by Alvaro Bautista.
Bautista, the defending World Champion, crashed his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R early in the race and DNF.
Italian Axel Bassani thrilled the home crowd by taking second on his Motocorsa Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R, just ahead of six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea and his factory Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR.
American Garrett Gerloff placed 13th on his Bonovo Action BMW M 1000 RR.
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Toprak Razgatlioglu secures Race 2 win as Alvaro Bautista crashes
In Race 2 at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari di Imola, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) emerged victorious after an intense battle with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). The race took a surprising turn as Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) suffered a crash in Tamburello on the first lap. Razgatlioglu capitalised on Bautista’s misfortune to claim the lead, ultimately securing his first feature-length race win of 2023.
Axel Bassani finished in second position whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured a well-deserved third place. The race also witnessed a strong performance from Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) who finished in fourth place, adding valuable points to his Championship campaign. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secured fifth place as he looks to retain his seat in the team for 2024. Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) achieved a career-best sixth-place finish.
After Race 2, Alvaro Bautista maintains his lead in the WorldSBK Championship standings with 391 points, but Toprak Razgatlioglu’s victory reduces the gap to 70 points.
Read the full report from Race 2 on worldsbk.com
Toprak Razgatlioglu secured a well-deserved victory in Race 2, marking his 4th win of the season.
P1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK
“I’m very happy that this year, finally, I’ve won! I waited for this moment, so thanks to my team who did an incredible job this weekend. Every session, we improved the bike but I am also sorry for Alvaro but this is racing, and you try and do your best. It’s the first time he’s crashed. After, I made a plan and didn’t want to risk. I followed Axel and in the last three laps I passed him and took a good pace. In general, I’m very happy this weekend! It’s the first time that Yamaha have won at Imola this weekend and I love this track too. It was very hot this weekend and congratulations to everyone because of this. I think it’s been a very good weekend as everybody’s watched real racing! The Championship is not over; I am riding like before, I’m focusing just on winning.”
Axel Bassani finished second and equaling his best result, as he narrowly missed out on his maiden victory.
Jonathan Rea claimed a solid third-place finish in Race 2 at Imola, reducing the gap to Andrea Locatelli in the championship standings.
Bradley Ray showcased his potential and achieved a career-best sixth-place finish in Race 2.
Alvaro Bautista takes the holeshot but crashes out at Turn 3, bringing an end to his streak of feature-length wins in 2023.
DNF | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“We decided to make the race shorter… and I made it even shorter! I made a mistake. I had a good start and kept a good line, but I just touched the inside white line at Turn 3. Maybe in other laps I touched it without problems but perhaps, on the first laps, the tyres were not 100%, I made a mistake. Next time, I have to be more careful. A pity because we were quite competitive this weekend. We were quite strong in Race 1 and in the Superpole Race. We had a nice battle with Toprak. we were stronger than I expected this weekend. I have to be positive, look forward and try to learn from the mistake.”
