Rea edges off Razgatlioglu in Estoril Superpole

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea won the Superpole race at Estoril on Sunday after overtaking the reigning World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu on the final lap.

Pole-sitter Rea lost the lead at the start of the race, with Razgatlioglu taking the holeshot into Turn 1 after a superior launch from second.  Later on the first lap, Rea ran wide at the hairpin, giving Razgatlioglu some breathing room in the early parts of the 10-lap race.

However, the Ulsterman wasted no time in closing the distance to the Yamaha rider, and at the start of lap 3, he utilised the Kawasaki’s better oomph to reclaim the lead.

Four laps later, Razgatlioglu surged back, passing Rea under the brakes into Turn 1 as they battled for the win.

As the final lap began, it appeared that Razgatlioglu had finally done enough to win for the first time in 2022, but he had a catastrophic miscalculation driving through the Turn 9/10 chicane, allowing Rea to come through and steal victory from him.

The Turkish rider was denied victory for the second time in two races at Estoril, having lost out to Alvaro Bautista in a sprint to the finish line on Saturday.

At the checkered flag, the gap between Rea and Razgatlioglu was barely 0.174s, with championship leader Bautista finishing nearly five seconds adrift on the factory Ducati as the best-of-the-rest.

On a damp but drying circuit, Honda’s Iker Lecuona looked like a real threat for a podium finish, putting pressure on Bautista with an intermediate-slick tyre combination, but his pace waned in the second half of the race, and he had to settle for fourth.

Andrea Locatelli, riding the second factory Yamaha, finished fifth, with Alex Lowes, on the works Kawasaki, in sixth.

Scott Redding started the race in third place, but his BMW couldn’t keep up with the leaders, and the British rider was finally classified eighth, some 10 seconds behind the leader.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi of Ducati fought off Xaxi Fores on the satellite Go Eleven bike for eighth place, the latter impressing again again as a last-minute replacement for Philipp Oettl, who was injured.

Axel Bassani, on another privately-run Panigale V4 R entered by the Motocorsa squad, rounded out the top ten. However,  Several riders fell out of the race, including Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty of Bonovo MGM, who were sent to the medical centre for examinations.

Scott Redding started the race in third place, but his BMW couldn’t keep up with the leaders, and the British rider was finally classified eighth, some 10 seconds behind the leader.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi on his Ducati fought off Xaxi Fores on the satellite Go Eleven bike for eighth place, the latter impressing again again as a last-minute replacement for Philipp Oettl, who was injured.

Axel Bassani, on another privately-run Panigale V4 R entered by the Motocorsa squad, completed the top ten. However, several riders fell out of the race, including Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty of Bonovo MGM, who were brought to the medical centre for examinations.

2022 WORLD SUPERBIKE ESTORIL, PORTUGAL – SUPERPOLE RACE RESULTS