After winning the Tissot Superpole Race, the Northern Irishman also triumphed by a narrow margin in Race 2
P1 - Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
• Race 2 saw Jonathan Rea make his 350th start and take his 117th career win.
• In both the Tissot Superpole Race (ahead of Razgatlioglu) and Race 2 (ahead of Bautista), he won by under 0.2s.
• He reduced Bautista’s lead in the Championship standings to just 17 points.
“I played my cards especially on the last lap. The race was quite stressful. We had this sea mist all race, especially in the last section of the circuit, going into Turns, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 so my visor was full of water and after a few laps behind Toprak, we had grip so I just convinced myself that it was dry. When Alvaro came past, it was like a seriousness of the race just switched on, so I knew I had to be there, to go with him. He did a really good job and I could use his slipstream on the start straight just to claw back a few kilometres, even though he was going away it was just enough to keep me there. I made a good Turn 1, by Turn 3 I was already there so I could be calmer at the rest of the track just to stay there. When it came to plotting a last lap move, I made a mistake with two laps to go and I had to arrive. It was really tough. I thought ‘should I make a big lunge into six?’ but he had such good traction through Turns 4 and 5 and along the back straight so it would’ve been too much. My mechanical traction from six was incredible. Parked the bike on the apex of Turn 7 and saw what I could do. He cut back again and then I thought about the chicane. Just go, park it on the apex, and try to cover my line. It was enough although I had a big slide at the last corner. I thought he was going to get me on the line, so I tried to make myself as small as possible. It was really, really exciting especially when you come out on top in a race like that.”
P2 - Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
• Bautista led most of the second half of the race before being overtaken by Rea in Turn 9 on the last lap.
• The Spanish rider claimed his ninth consecutive podium meaning he is the only rider who has stand on the podium of all 2022 races.
• He maintained his Championship lead, despite Rea recovering points on Sunday at Estoril.
“In the end, I got a gap to Jonathan and the other riders, so it was nice but on the last lap the battle with Jonny was good. He tried to pass me into Turn 7, and I was prepared for this. I recovered the position. In the chicane, I tried to close the door, I thought I closed it quite well, but he just opened the door on the entry and just put the bike in front of me on entry. That’s all. Then I had to change the line and there was a bit of a gap to him on the exit of the chicane. I was too far and especially on the last lap, in the last sector, it started to rain so I just made the last corner without feeling the rear tyre slide, so I couldn’t do what I did yesterday, but I am happy that we fought until the end for victory.”
P3 - Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)
• Despite leading the race at points, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) dropped back from the lead duo to settle for third place.
• He claimed his 61st podium, equaling Frankie Chili and James Toseland.
• He is third in the Championship standings, 52 points behind Bautista and 35 points behind Rea.
“For me a good race weekend as we are very strong. Race 2, I tried to fight for the win but after 10 laps, a big drop in the rear tyre and I started sliding a lot, especially in the final corner. I tried my best in all the races. Sometimes, we need luck, especially in the first race when on the straight, the Ducati passed me. In the Superpole Race, my small mistake means I almost crashed. Sometimes, I see the chequered flag and it’s not possible to see it first. We take good points in the Championship, and I hope at Misano, we’re fighting for the win.”
P4 – Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
• Having fought for the podium after a difficult Friday and Saturday, Lowes took fourth place after running wide at Turn 1 on Lap 14.
• He claimed his joint best result of the season so far.
“I’ve had a tough weekend. From the first practice, I did not feel comfortable with the bike and I was pretty slow. And then we made a big change after the first race for today. Obviously the weather went against us today. But in the Superpole Race, I chose the SC0 in the rear but I felt good. I’ve felt like the bike was working really well toward the end of the race. So I started in sixth position in the last race. I thought that if I made a good start maybe I could stay with the guys, at least for the first few laps. Unfortunately, in the last part of the race I started dropping off. But I can finish the weekend with some confidence and feeling positive.”
P5 - Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)
• Locatelli took fifth place as he finished just 0.077s ahead of Lecuona, his six consecutive top six finish.
• The Italian rider is fourth in the Championship standings, trailing his teammate by 25 points away.
“In Race 2, we improved a lot the bike compared to yesterday and the gap was closer with the front group. For sure I made some mistakes in the first part of the race so I lost the opportunity to stay with Alex to fight for P4. But in the end, it was a positive weekend for my team and me.”
To note: Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) had an eventful race as he moved up the order to claim a top seven finish. He now is the top Independent rider with 43 points.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) and Xavi Fores (Team Goeleven) completed the top ten. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK – Ducati) was the leading BMW rider in eleventh.
Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) did not take part in Race 2 after he sustained a fracture to his right fifth metacarpal bone following a crash in the Tissot Superpole Race.
The Pirelli Emilia-Romagna Round will take place from the 10th to 12th of June at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”.
WorldSBK Results Race 2
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.194s
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +4.350s
4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +7.125s
5. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +8.232s
6. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +8.309s
Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 3)
1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (161 points)
2. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (144 points)
3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR) Yamaha (109 points)
WorldSBK Results Tissot Superpole Race
1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.174s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +4.925s
Wet conditions did not prevent Aegerter from claiming his fifth consecutive win
The reigning WorldSSP Champion matched his five win streak from 2021
P1 – Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)
• Despite wet conditions, the reigning WorldSSP Champion clinched his fifth consecutive victory in Race 2, meaning he has equalled his best winning streak from 2021.
• Struggling in the early stages of the race, he made his leading overtake over Baldassarri with six laps to go.
• It’s Aegerter’s 15th win in the category and his ninth hat-trick having claimed both wins from pole position and scoring the fastest lap.
• Aegerter increased is Championship lead to 44 points over Baldassarri.
“Fantastic weekend again. We’re taking the win for the fifth time in a row. We are leading the Championship with some points of advantage. The race was more quite difficult because when we get to the start there were some drops of rain so when we started, all the 18 laps were sizzling some rain. I didn’t know how much to push so I was following some riders. But then we were a big group overtaking each other and then with 3 or 4 laps to go I decided to risk a bit more. I wanted to be in front in case we had a red flag … so I tried to push a little be more and did some fast lap to get a small gap and take the win.”
P2 – Kyle Smith (VFT Racing)
• Starting from 17th on the grid, Smith claimed his first podium in WorldSSP since Magny-Cours 2020, his best result of the season so far.
• His last two podiums were also claimed in wet conditions.
“A difficult race because I started from the back of the grid. First season with the team and we’re just trying to find the correct bike set up in dry conditions. At the beginning of the race, I just putted my head down trying to not make any mistakes. And then it started again in mixed conditions. I managed to put my head down and passed a lot of people. Really good fun race but difficult at the same time. I’m happy for the team to get on the podium.”
P3 – Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros.WorldSSP Yamaha Team)
• Baldassarri claimed his fifth WorldSSP podium with third position in Race 2.
• It was his first rain-impacted WorldSSP race.
• The Italian rookie stands in second place in the Championship standings, having conceded 9 additional points to the Swiss rider.
“Today was a tough race. There were many riders fighting for the win. Seeing the flags with wet conditions, I didn’t know how much it was raining so making the pace was not easy. I managed well and I think we can be happy about this weekend. It was not easy to take the podium is those conditions. I can’t wait for the next race in Misano, hoping to put Domi behind me!”
In fourth place is Italian rookie Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) as he claimed his career-best WorldSSP result. He finished a second clear of teammate Can Oncu. The Turkish rider was one of several riders who led the race at one point but dropped back in the latter stages.
Finishing just 0.047s behind him was Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) as the Australian rookie scored his best result so far in WorldSSP with sixth. 2021 WorldSSP300 Champion Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) also claimed his best result in the category with a seventh position.
To note: after he looked to fight for victory, Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) had a technical issue on Lap 6 which meant he did not finish the race, while Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) was a another non-finisher after bringing his bike back to the pits in the early stages of the race.
Following a crash in Sunday's Warm Up session, Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was declared unfit with an open fracture to his fourth toe and fractures to his second and third toes on his left foot.
WorldSSP Results Race 2
1. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha)
2. Kyle Smith (VFT Racing) +2.344s
3. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) +3.762s
4. Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +3.867s
5. Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) +4.657s
6. Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) +4.704s
Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 3)
1. Dominique Aegerter (SUI) Yamaha (145 points)
2. Lorenzo Baldassarri (ITA) Yamaha (101 points)
3. Nicolo Bulega (ITA) Ducati (72 points)
Record recovery for Di Sora to take Race 2 victory
After being demoted to the back of the grid for a tyre pressure infringement, Di Sora battled from the back of the grid to win his first race of 2022
P1 - Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo)
• Di Sora was forced to start from 31st place after a tyre pressure infringement.
• He claimed his second WorldSSP300 victory, the first one of the 2022 season as he set a record in WorldSSP300 for the lowest starting position to win a race.
• Second placed in the Championship standings, he now stands only 13 points behind Samuel Di Sora.
“Incredible. I was going lap by lap, turn by turn, passing some riders and making my way to the field. It was pretty hard but I was confident. We had an issue with the tyre pressure which was a bit surprising. But the bike was incredible to bike and it was possible to make this comeback.”
P2 – Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing)
• Iglesias claimed his first podium finish since Barcelona 2021 with second position in Race 2.
“Today I get my first podium of the season so I’m very happy. I want to keep this level to do my best and fight for the podium at every race to win positions on the Championship standings. After today, I think we deserve to move up in the standings.”
P3 – Mirco Gennai (Team BrCorse)
• After a difficult weekend start, the Italian rider secured a top three finish for his second podium of the season.
“It was a very difficult weekend for me. I lost 10min in Superpole and then crash and I crashed too in Race 1. But today I was very excited for the Race 2. I knew I could fight for the podium but it’s difficult with lot of riders battling for the podium but in the last lap, I could get to third. I improved the feeling with my bike compared to last year.”
Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) missed out on a podium by just 0.089s, although he claimed his best result of the season so far. Championship leader Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) crossed the finish line in sixth place but was promoted to fifth following Victor Steeman’s (MTM Kawasaki) one-place demotion for exceeding track limits on the final lap.
WorldSSP300 Results Race 2
1. Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo)
2. Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) +0.332s
3. Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) +0.537s
4. Kevin Sabatucci (Kawasaki GP Project) +0.626s
5. Marc Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) +1.110s
6. Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) +1.120s
Championship standings (after Race 2 - Round 3)
1. Marc Garcia (ESP) Yamaha (98 points)
2. Samuel Di Sora (FRA) Kawasaki (85 points)
3. Alvaro Diaz (ESP) Yamaha (80 points)
DORNA World SBK