Toprak Razgatlioglu secures treble after winning WorldSBK Misano Race 2

Toprak Razgatlioglu was dominant yet again on his way to a third career treble in WorldSBK Misano Race 2.

ROKiT BMW Motorrad’s Toprak Razgatlioglu made a sluggish start from the pole position he earned by winning the Superpole Race, dropping to fifth.

Nicolo Bulega narrowly claimed the holeshot over Andrea Iannone, followed by Alex Lowes, Andrea Locatelli and Razgatlioglu, who fell from pole position to fifth.

However, the Turkish rider made his way through on Locatelli at turns nine and 10 on the first lap, as Iannone ran wide, and he made two positions. Another pass on Lowes at turn 14 meant he finished the first lap in second place, but already over a second down on Bulega.

Meanwhile, Iannone was dropping down the order, falling all the way to 10th as he struggled with an apparent issue on his Team GoEleven Ducati.

As Razgatlioglu gave chase to Bulega, who was 1,5s up the road on Lap 4, Lowes was hitching a tow on the BMW rider, just 1.3s back in third place. Alvaro Bautista wasn’t having as easy a time of it in fourth, with the reigning champion looking unlikely to trouble the top three in the early stages.

Razgatlioglu wanted a hattrick of wins and with 16 laps to go it was looking more and more realistic as the Turkish rider closed right in on Bulega’s rear wheel. The BMW ace made his move at Turn 8 with 14 laps to go and successfully held off Bulega down the back straight to hold the lead.

It was game over at that point. Razgatlioglu extended his lead as far as five seconds, before rolling the pace off on the final lap to allow Bulega back within three. It was Razgatlioglu’s second treble, his fourth win in succession, and his sixth win in the last nine races.

Bulega secured second place, four seconds clear of Alvaro Bautista in third. Bautista ran fourth for much of the race but made pass on Alex Lowes to secure the final podium spot.

Lowes himself took fourth, ahead of Andrea Locatelli, while Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top six thanks to a late pass on Axel Bassani, who finished seventh. Remy Gardner, Iker Lecuona, and Jonathan Rea completed the top 10.

Scott Redding finished a much improved 12th on the Bonovo Action BMW M 1000 RR. Marc VDS Ducati’s Sam Lowes recovered from two DNFs in the first two races to finish 13th with Puccetti Racing Kawasaki rider Tito Rabat and GMT94 Yamaha rider Philipp Oettl completing the points-scoring positions.

Team Motocorsa Racing’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi finished just outside the points in 16th with Yamaha Motoxracing’s Bradley Ray in 17th. It was a race to forget for Bonovo’s Garrett Gerloff in 18th with Petronas MIE Racing Honda’s Tarran Mackenzie rounding out the finishers.

2024 WorldSBK Misano Race 2 Results