UK WorldSBK: Razgatlioglu claims sixth win in a row after edging Bulega and Rea in superpole

Toprak Razgatlioglu further solidified his dominance at the UK WorldSBK after edging Nicolo Bulega to claim victory in Sunday’s Superpole race at Donington Park.

ROKiT BMW Motorrad’s Toprak Razgatlioglu secured his sixth consecutive victory at the UK WorldSBK after holding off an early surge from Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega, while Pata Yamaha’s Jonathan Rea secured his first podium with the team.

The conditions for the ten lap sprint seemed to give in to light downpour with an air temperature of just 18ºC which is a regular setting in British racing. The Turkish rider opted for harder tyres unlike fellow front row starters despite having a clear advantage over his rivals throughout the weekend.

Bulega led into turn one with Razgatlioglu, Sam Lowes and Jonathan Rea behind him as the six time WorldSBK champion got to the inside of Lowes at exit of the corner to take third place. Meanwhile, Domi Aegerter, Scott Redding and Andrea Locatelli battled for fifth place in a thrilling spectacle trading positions.

However, the superpole claimed its first victim as Axel Bassani crashed out on lap two as Alvaro Bautista made his way up to eighth place behind Alex Lowes. At the front, Bulega and Razgatlioglu broke away from the field as Rea struggled to keep up while Sam Lowes led the fight for fourth place a second further back.

It wasn’t long before Razgatlioglu took the lead from Bulega in the Melbourne Loop at the end of lap three as Rea dropped off from the leading pair.

Having set the fastest lap of 1’25.773 which doubled up as a new lap record on lap five, Razgatlioglu extended his gap over Bulega and proceeded to start lap six almost a second clear of the Ducati.

Rea sat in a lonely third place almost two seconds behind with Sam Lowes also falling 2s behind the Yamaha rider. The Marc VDS rider found himself under piling pressure from Scott Redding, Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista with all contending for his spot.

By lap seven, Razgatlioglu was still leading Bulega by over a second with Rea over two seconds further behind. The podium, and front row for race two, seemed set as Scott Redding, Alex Lowes and Alvaro Bautista were over two seconds off Rea, swapping places back and forth and showing no signs of being able to close the gap.

As Sam Lowes dropped off the fight for fourth, Andrea Locatelli joined in behind Redding, Lowes and Bautista.

On the final lap, Razgatlioglu held a comfortable three second lead over Bulega and almost six seconds clear of third placed Rea. Redding held off attempts from Lowes in the last two slow corners to hold on to fourth place.

Bautista finished sixth as Pata Yamaha with BRIXX rider Andrea Locatelli took seventh followed by Sam Lowes in eighth as Barni’s Danilo Petrucci and Team Go Eleven’s Andrea Iannone rounded out the top ten.

2024 UK WorldSBK Donington Park Superpole Race Results