The weather threatened to make a difference at the World Superbike Superpole race on Sunday morning. Eric Granado wouldn't start as he was ruled unfit after a concussion he got in his red flag crash and Oliver Konig would miss out after fracturing his ankle in his race crash yesterday. Danilo Petrucci was retroactively disqualified from yesterday's race for not wearing a chest protector. The air temperature was a cool 19ºC and the morning had a couple of drops of rain.
Alvaro Bautista led Michael Ruben Rinaldi into turn one, ahead of Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes and Toprak Razgatlioglu. After lap one of the ten lap race, Bautista led by two thirds of a second as five riders made up the second group with Dominique Aegerter at the back. Razgatlioglu took fourth place off Lowes into turn one with Lowes then swapping back and forth with Aegerter at turn four.
Lap two and Bautista set the fastest lap, a 1'41.386, seven tenths ahead of the fight for second. Into turn one of lap three, Razgatlioglu took third place from Rea and closed up on second-placed Rinaldi. Rea ran wide around turn ten but he held fourth place, seven tenths ahead of Aegerter and Lowes. Razgatlioglu closed on Rinaldi but couldn't pass him into turn one, the Ducati escaping at the start of the straight enough for a gap to. Razgatlioglu pushed Rinaldi and into turn ten he had a tighter line under Rinaldi and pushed his way past, without making contact.
Lap five, and Bautista had a second lead over Razgatlioglu who had Rinaldi and Rea on his tail, and at half race distance Bautista led by over a second and a half. Razgatlioglu, Rinaldi and Rea were a second clear of Aegerter and Lowes who were joined by Iker Lecuona, Andrea Locatelli and Garrett Gerloff.
Another lap and another increase in Bautista's lead, Locatelli dragged himself up to seventh place, passing Lecuona on the brakes into turn one as drops of rain started to show up in sector two.
Lap eight and Bautista led by two seconds and behind him, his teammate passed Razgatlioglu, outbreaking him into turn one. Razgatlioglu and Rinaldi swapped places over the first few turns and Razgatlioglu took second place back at turn ten, their fight allowing Rea to close right up to the pair.
Two laps to go, Bautista led by over two and a half seconds as Razgatlioglu, Rinaldi and Rea were covered by a tenth of a second over the line, and Rea took third place into turn four as Rinaldi looked spooked by the rain. Lowes also took advantage and passed Rinaldi.
On the last lap, into turn one, Razgatlioglu piled into turn one with Rea on the outside. Rea lost the front defending against Razgatlioglu and crashed out of the race, gesticulating in the gravel trap after another frustrating crash. Rinaldi continued to drop back as Locatelli passed Rinaldi and Lowes in one move into turn ten with Lecuona following him through as Lowes couldn't hold the apex as Locatelli was using it.
Alvaro Bautista won the Superpole race by over two seconds with Toprak Razgatlioglu taking second place ahead of his Yamaha teammate Andrea Locatelli. Iker Lecuona also took advantage of the rain scare to take fourth place to lead the second row in the afternoon's race, ahead of Alex Lowes and Dominique Aegerter. Garret Gerloff heads the third row, alongside Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Xavi Vierge. Remy Gardner also crashed out on the last lap.
Alvaro Bautista continues to extend his championship lead, sixty four points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu with Andrea Locatelli twenty three points further back. Jonathan Rea's DNF put him one hundred and twenty two points off Bautista with Axel Bassani remaining three points behind him, neither having scored points in the Superpole race.
Results:
Pos | No. | Rider | Bike | Gap |
1 | 1 | A. BAUTISTA | Ducati Panigale V4R | |
2 | 54 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Yamaha YZF R1 | 2.110 |
3 | 55 | A. LOCATELLI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 0.275 |
4 | 7 | I. LECUONA | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 2.868 |
5 | 22 | A. LOWES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 2.965 |
6 | 77 | D. AEGERTER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 3.257 |
7 | 31 | G. GERLOFF | BMW M1000 RR | 3.398 |
8 | 21 | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 0.704 |
9 | 97 | X. VIERGE | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 4.884 |
10 | 47 | A. BASSANI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 6.031 |
11 | 9 | D. PETRUCCI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 6.154 |
12 | 45 | S. REDDING | BMW M1000 RR | 9.424 |
13 | 5 | P. OETTL | Ducati Panigale V4R | 10.428 |
14 | 28 | B. RAY | Yamaha YZF R1 | 14.325 |
15 | 75 | I. LOPES | BMW M1000 RR | 14.441 |
16 | 35 | H. SYAHRIN | Honda CBR1000 RR-R | 21.393 |
17 | 34 | L. BALDASSARRI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 23.623 |
18 | 76 | L. BAZ | BMW M1000 RR | 26.209 |
19 | 66 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 26.566 |
20 | 32 | I. VINALES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 34.300 |
RET | 65 | J. REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1 Lap |
RET | 87 | R. GARDNER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 9 |