Nicolo Bulega wins the Superpole race at the Superbike World Championship in Estoril – Toprak Razgatlioglu narrowly beaten – Jonathan Rea has a crash
Ducati factory rider Nicolo Bulega has secured victory in the Superpole race at the Superbike World Championship in Estoril, Portugal. Bulega came out on top against BMW factory rider Toprak Razgatlioglu in a thrilling finish. At the finish line, 0.003 seconds decided between victory and defeat – the closest finish in the history of the series-based championship.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, Danilo Petrucci (Barni-Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Yamaha) formed the front row of the grid on Sunday morning. World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) only started the sprint race from eleventh place on the fourth row.
The track was completely dry at the start of the Superpole race. The majority of the drivers opted for the SCQ mixture. Only Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) and Iker Lecuona (Honda) chose the harder SCX mixture.
Toprak Razgatlioglu is caught off guard by Danilo Petrucci on lap one
Razgatlioglu won the sprint to the first corner. Petrucci maintained second position. Behind them came the two factory Yamahas of Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea. Alvaro Bautista did not have a good start and lost a position.
On the first lap, Petrucci took the lead when Razgatlioglu left the door open at Turn 9. Razgatlioglu lost two more positions to Locatelli and Rea on lap one, but easily passed the two Yamahas on the straight.
On lap two, Razgatlioglu took the lead at turn 9. Petrucci didn’t have the pace to follow Razgatlioglu. Locatelli passed him at the start of lap three and Nicolo Bulega also overtook Petrucci. On lap three, Bulega and Locatelli swapped positions.
Alvaro Bautista fights his way forward, Jonathan Rea loses positions
At the front, Razgatlioglu controlled the pace. Bulega was half a second behind the leading BMW. Locatelli lost the connection. Petrucci moved up to fourth position and also had trouble keeping up with the high pace.
Bautista’s race to catch up was successful. After four laps, the title defender was already in fifth position. For Rea, it was the other way around. The six-time world champion lost positions and was only in P7 after five laps.
Bulega fought hard to keep Razgatlioglu from escaping. The leading duo clearly pulled away from the rest of the field. Behind them, a group of three formed with Locatelli, Petrucci and Bautista.
Over the limit: Jonathan Rea crashes at turn 10
Rea fought hard to avoid losing even more ground, but went over the limit on lap six and crashed. In turn 10, Rea slipped at low speed and steered to the inside.
The Northern Irishman was lucky not to be hit by one of the following drivers. Rea straightened his Yamaha and continued the race in P22. He finished second-last, 27 seconds behind, and is only in P10 for the second main race.
Just 0.1 seconds separate Razgatlioglu and Bulega one lap before the end of the race
At the front, Razgatlioglu and Bulega continued to close the gap. Bulega set a new lap record on lap eight and reduced the gap to less than three tenths of a second. Ducati teammate Bautista took over third position. After passing Petrucci, Bautista easily overtook Locatelli’s Yamaha on the straight.
Bulega went into the final lap 0.110 seconds behind Razgatlioglu and was within striking distance of the number 54 BMW. In the twisty part of the track, Bulega couldn’t find a way past Razgatlioglu.
Closest finish in Superbike World Championship history!
Coming out of the last corner, Bulega gained a lot of momentum and pulled out of the slipstream. There were only 0.003 seconds between Bulega and Razgatlioglu at the finish line. With his victory in the sprint, Bulega demonstrated that he can beat Razgatlioglu in a direct duel.
“I gave it my all on the last lap,” explained Bulega. “Toprak rode a very good race and was very fast. But I was able to follow him. And on the last lap, I tried something unusual. It paid off,” said the winner of the sprint race.
“It was not an easy race because I had to push hard every lap,” commented Razgatlioglu. “Bulega was very strong, I congratulate him. I had a lot of slippage in the last corner. The bike didn’t accelerate well. I lost the victory in the final meters. That’s not good, but we still have one more race.”
Alvaro Bautista will start from eleventh on the grid and finish in the top 3
Bautista finished the sprint race 4.2 seconds behind in third position and secured a place on the front row of the grid for the final race. Locatelli lost touch on the two final laps and finished fourth. Petrucci completed the top 5.
Alex Lowes brought Kawasaki into the top six. The final points went to the two Honda factory riders Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona and GoEleven Ducati rider Andrea Iannone.
Scott Redding (Bonovo-BMW) just missed out on the top nine in tenth place. The Briton crossed the finish line just ahead of Bonovo teammate Garrett Gerloff. Michael van der Mark (BMW) finished the sprint behind Axel Bassani (Kawasaki) in P13. This meant that only one of the four BMWs scored points.
Dominique Aegerter (GRT-Yamaha) finished the sprint in P16 and went away empty-handed, just like Philipp Öttl (GMT94-Yamaha), who finished in P21.
The second main race at the Superbike World Championship in Estoril will follow at 3:00 p.m. (CEST).