PATA Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu outperformed championship rivals Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista throughout the two practice sessions on Friday for the Argentina World Superbike round.
Jonathan Rea’s works Kawasaki contract was extended through 2024, allowing him to continue competing in the World Superbike championship for a further two seasons.
Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea won the dramatic final World Superbike race of the weekend at Estoril after initiating a gutsy pass on title leader Alvaro Bautista on the final lap.
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.
After initially describing their collision as a “racing incident,” WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu has later claimed Jonathan Rea was to blame for their race two crash in Assen.
After defeating Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista in a shortened Superpole race at Assen, Jonathan Rea made a record by marking the first Kawasaki rider to win 100 WorldSBK races.
Jonathan Rea won his second World Superbike race of the season in Assen, beating Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu in a thrilling three-way battle.
Six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea edged Alvaro Bautista by 0.101s in a nail-biting duel at Aragon to start his 2022 World Superbike campaign with a win.
Toprak Razgatlioglu maintains his FP1 advantage to finish two tenths clear of title rival Jonathan Rea in World Superbike FP2 at Mandalika. Despite being 1.5 seconds down on Razgatlioglu’s overall best time from FP1, Alex Lowes quickly improved to go within two tenths of the Yamaha rider’s 1:34.985s. Jonathan Rea, who lost considerable track time in FP1 due to a technical issue, then went quickest for this session, second overall. Lowes then crashed at turn two – the same spot as replacement rider for Loris Cresson, Oliver Konig did this morning. While that was happening, Razgatlioglu went +0.003s down on Rea’s best FP2 time. After following each other for a couple of laps, Razgatlioglu dropped back from Rea to then start another push lap, a lap that saw him go fastest, although not quite enough to beat his own time from earlier on. However, Razgatlioglu did eventually go on to better his fastest lap of the day on his very next lap. A time of 1:34.815s put him -0.199s clear of Scott Redding who was just the second rider at this stage to set a sub 1m 35s lap. After a brief return to pit lane, Razgatlioglu re-joined the track with team-mate Andrea Locatelli in close proximity. The Turkish rider went another fourth tenths faster which helped the Italian move up to second – six tenths behind the series leader. Rea managed to split the two Pata Yamaha riders as he went just under two tenths down on Razgatlioglu, but this time it was sector one not four where the Kawasaki rider struggled to match Razgatlioglu. Impressive efforts from Garrett Gerloff and Leon Haslam saw both riders jump up to third and fourth during the final five minutes. Haslam’s team-mate Alvaro Bautista then pipped the British rider to fourth place courtesy of a lap that was a tenth quicker. WORLD SUPERBIKE MANDALIKA, INDONESIA – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (2) POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha 1:34.230s 2 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.174s 3 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +0.225s 4 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +0.230s 5 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +0.349s 6 Leon Haslam GBR Team HRC +0.371s 7 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +0.528s 8 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +0.647s 9 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +0.708s 10 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +0.724s 11 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +0.727s 12 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Racing Kawasaki +0.742s 13 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +1.181s 14 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +1.186s 15 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati +1.206s 16 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +1.361s 17 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +1.407s 18 Tito Rabat ITA Kawasaki Puccetti +1.620s 19 Samuele Cavalieri SPA Barni Ducati +1.706s 20 Oliver Konig CZE Pedercini Kawasaki +4.692s Free Practice One
World Superbike championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu dominated the opening free practice at Mandalika, while Jonathan Rea was only 11th fastest after being limited for track time. Reigning six-time World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) had a nightmare, as his team worked on his bike for most of the session, meaning he only completed one full stint and ending the session down in 11th. Razgatlioglu was one of the first out on track and he took to the Pertamina Mandalika Circuit like a duck to water, with the opposition barely seeing which way he went. Razgatlioglu got three stints under his belt and set a sensational time of 1’34.985, some 1.5s quicker than Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in second. Lowes was in good form as he returned to action and was just marginally ahead of Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). The American came good at the end of the session and will aim to help Toprak if necessary, this weekend. Fourth place went to Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he got dialled in at the new venue, hoping to get on terms with Toprak as he looks to lead Ducati to a manufacturers’ title. Completing the top five was the surprise of the morning Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura), with the Spaniard looking good on his ZX-10RR and building on the flashes of brilliance he’s shown in recent rounds. An eager Razgatlioglu made his way past Leon Haslam during the early stages as he set about learning the new Mandalika track. Razgatlioglu’s first few laps saw him continuously lead Rea by over a second, while Isaac Vinales enjoyed an early run inside the top three. Sectors three and four seemed to be where Razgatlioglu was making up most of his time on Rea and indeed the rest of the field during the first part of FP1. WORLD SUPERBIKE MANDALIKA, INDONESIA – FREE PRACTICE RESULTS (1) POS RIDER NAT TEAM TIME 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha 1:34.985s 2 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +1.544s 3 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha +1.600s 4 Scott Redding GBR Aruba.It Ducati +1.835s 5 Isaac Vinales SPA Orelac Racing Kawasaki +2.094s 6 Alvaro Bautista SPA Team HRC +2.099s 7 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +2.118s 8 Michael Van Der Mark NED Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +2.155s 9 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Ducati +2.195s 10 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha +2.305s 11 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team +2.401s 12 Leon Haslam GBR Team HRC +2.438s 13 Chaz Davies GBR GoEleven Ducati +2.496s 14 Tito Rabat ITA Kawasaki Puccetti +2.797s 15 Samuele Cavalieri SPA Barni Ducati +2.832s 16 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Yamaha +2.899s 17 Tom Sykes GBR Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team +3.082s 18 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing +3.435s 19 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +4.096s 20 Oliver Konig CZE Pedercini Kawasaki +8.235s
12 Rounds and 35 races later, 30 points separate the top two in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship paddock as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) heads Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) heading into the season-ending Pirelli Indonesian Round. The title will be decided at the all-new Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit, providing another challenge on top of the title battle. Both Razgatlioglu and Rea have claimed 28 podiums in the 2021 campaign with the Turkish rider on 13 wins compared to Rea’s 11. Both have also had three retirements from races in a remarkably even season, with the title on the line at the season-ending Indonesian Round; Razgatlioglu hoping to end Rea’s run of consecutive titles while the Northern Irishman will hope to turn around a 30-point deficit to make it seven in a row. Razgatlioglu leads the Championship heading into the final round of the campaign, but throughout 2021 has been adamant that his approach is looking for race wins and not looking at the Championship standings. Discussing his approach to racing in Indonesia, Razgatlioglu continued this theme. He said: “Everybody asks the same question. My plan was just to focus on the race because I try to fight for the win again. This is more important for me. I’m very close to being Champion but I will try my best; maybe I’m in second position, maybe third, maybe I win. We will see. I just try again for the win. This is my style, but everybody says, ‘you don’t need first position’, but this is important because I like this style. Because this is the last round, everybody will try their best.” The 30-point margin is one that has been almost closed up throughout one weekend numerous times in 2021 with technical issues or crashes restricting the points-scoring haul at times. Explaining how he relishes the underdog tag and his approach to the weekend, Rea said: “We’ve, both of us, have thrown away more than that kind of points in one weekend so I can focus on myself. It’s not the best position, a real underdog position, but one that I relish.” “Just focus on myself. No matter what happens from a Championship point of view, I’m trying to put that to the back of my head and go out and finish the year strongly with race results. I want to go home on the plane on Sunday night and feel like I’ve done a great job here. Then, of course, the year will look after itself.” In the last six years, Rea has come into the final round either with the Championship wrapped up or leading the standings. Talking about the difference in 2021, Rea said: “The last years have been incredible to really enjoy the last round. This one’s a little bit different but similar as well because I don’t feel the same pressure I would have normally to get a job done.” “I feel we’ve perhaps lost the Championship in some ways this year so to be in the fight is a great position. I’ve got a lot of motivation, try to keep the dream alive until the last race and what better place to come!” Razgatlioglu also gave his thoughts on what it would mean if he was crowned World Champion and the Indonesian Round as a whole. He said: “It’s very important for me and the team. I like this track and it’s my first time in Indonesia….I’m not feeling stressed, I like it here.” “Today I walked the track, and everything is good. We are ready and this race is very important for me. I hope we are Champion this weekend; this is very important for me. I am waiting to say, ‘this is for my dad’, and this is very important for me. This is my dream. I know my father has always worked for me, he believed in me always. He said ‘Toprak will be World Champion’, but it wasn’t possible for him to see this. This is very important for me.”
