The Barcelona round of the World Superbike Championship is going almost perfectly for Toprak Razgatlioglu. This Sunday, the 2021 champion achieved his second win of the weekend, this time in the Superpole race.
At the end of the first lap, rookie Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS/Ducati) was leading, a position he held until the fourth lap when he was overtaken by his pursuers in a tightly packed front group. First, he was passed by Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven/Ducati), and in the following corners, he dropped to fifth.
The pack remained closely bunched, and during the fifth lap, the lead changed hands more than once. Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW) took the lead at that point but was overtaken by Iannone a lap later. However, the Turkish rider managed to respond quickly to regain the lead.
Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati), who had been in the front group for a long time, reached second place on the penultimate lap, becoming Razgatlioglu’s main challenger until the end. The Spanish rider overtook #54 on the final lap, but Razgatlioglu didn’t give up, attacking on the last corner to reclaim first place and win the race with a 0.075s lead.
At the same time, Iannone took advantage of Bautista’s wide line to overtake him and finish second. Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) rounded out the top five. The difficult weekend for six-time champion Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) continued with a 13th place finish.
Results: