Rounds ups from opening WorldSBK/SSP/SSP300 races at Aragon

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Ten – Aragon

WorldSBK Race One

WorldSBK Race 1 at Aragon was a rollercoaster of emotions, featuring the triumph of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and the unraveling of Alvaro Bautista’s Championship challenge.

At the forefront of the action, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) ended a two-year drought with a resounding victory. Hot on Rinaldi’s heels, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) secured second place, closing the gap on Championship leader Alvaro Bautista to 37 points.

The day wasn’t without its twists and turns, as Alvaro Bautista, the Championship leader, endured a disastrous outing. Bautista crashed twice during the race, once from the lead, and again on the final lap when he was poised to score points. These crashes significantly dented his championship campaign, adding an unexpected layer of drama to the season.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) claimed the final podium spot. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) put in a solid performance, clinching fourth place.

One of the race’s most remarkable stories unfolded with Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) starting from 24th on the grid after crashing in qualifying, to secure an astounding fifth place.

Closing out the top six was Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) ahead of Remy Gardner who bagged good points with a seventh place finish while Garrett Gerloff was the first BMW home in eighth.

Michael Rinaldi – P1

“It’s incredible! At Aragon, strange things happen, I had my first race win here and then this victory today is one of my best, as I fought! It was a race where I had to manage the tyre and think a lot. There’s been some really dark moments this year but this is the best road to come back. I decided to not give up and here I am, really happy and enjoying this moment. I think that the problem for them was at the beginning of the race; I was lapping in the 1’50s but they went away, and I think they were using too much tyre, so at the end, it was the key as I was able to catch them. It’s what I thought at the beginning of the race. I’m sorry for Alvaro’s crash and I’m sure his pace was even better, but I took the opportunity and won the race. These things happen and I wish him the best for tomorrow. My target is to always be there fighting for the victory and we’ll see tomorrow if we can repeat it with Alvaro.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P2

“First I say, I am really happy! This weekend I am not starting really strong and now we improve my R1 a lot – especially for the race. My plan normally is to follow Johnny and Alvaro to save the tyre, and after Alvaro crashed, I just changed the plan to follow Johnny – thinking if I stay just behind in the last two laps then try to fight for the win. But also Michael was very strong and he came back! I was just thinking his rear tyre start to drop in grip, maybe last two laps – but he was still strong. I just try my best, I am never winning at this circuit. I push a lot and finally I did second position, this is good for the championship because now the gap is just 37 points. I am really happy, especially after it was so difficult yesterday. Today I was feeling more grip, just need to improve corner entry and I hope we are fighting for the win tomorrow.”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“Even in the first laps I felt really under control and it was, in fact, easy to sit behind Alvaro. That was when our bike has grip, like this morning when you saw in Superpole that the lap time was incredible. Even losing the time we did in sector four I could do what I wanted with the bike. After nine laps it started to become more difficult and I could see the gap to Toprak was staying around 0.1, 0.2 on the pitboard. I just tried to keep my focus and not make mistakes. Then Rinaldi passed me and I knew that he was coming with good pace. As soon as he passed me I could see in the next corner exit that he had so much grip. I knew it would be close to impossible to fight. Toprak came past pretty quickly after. I gritted my teeth and tried to stay there. I was taking tenths in some areas, but over the lap he was just a bit better. We ran into grip problems front and rear. But we got a third place, and I should be really happy, because it continues our podium form. I have been super-happy with thirds in the past but today I am a bit disappointed because I expected a bit more.”

Andrea Locatelli – P4

“We improved a lot from yesterday! It was a really frustrating day, we tried to work well from the beginning but it was difficult to find grip – but this morning we tried a new solution and we found a really good step forward that could help us to manage the bike and push hard. The qualifying was great and we started from P4, so in the end it was a really good race! We just need a little bit more especially at the start because I lost time in the first laps, but in general it was a really big improvement today so we need to be happy! Now we are looking forward to prepare for tomorrow, but I think we can have two more strong races, to be fast and try to get a podium.

Danilo Petrucci – P5

“I’m really sorry for my mistake in Superpole. Starting last definitely conditioned us of course. We did the best we could and fifth isn’t so bad, considering where we started, but with a different qualifying session we could have done more. The feeling is good, and the key tomorrow will be to finish top nine in the Superpole race to have a shot at the podium in race 2.”

Remy Gardner – P7

“Honestly, we expected a little bit more in the Superpole following the strong Free Practice 3, but our grid position wasn’t too bad in the end. We faced a tricky start losing a couple of places, but we managed to fight back through the field and show consistent speed during the whole race. Now we’ve got more data to work on and we’ll try to improve further tomorrow, starting from the Tissot Superpole Race to achieve a better starting position for Race 2.”

Iker Lecuona – P10

“I was very happy with our speed today, if not with the race result. In FP3 I struggled but in qualifying things went exponentially better. I could lap in 1’48 on my first flying lap, alone, and that’s the fastest I have ever been here at Aragon. Then with the second tyre, and with Rea as a reference, I cut just one tenth, meaning that I had already achieved the maximum possible for us here during my first exit. P6 on the grid is nevertheless a big step for us. As for the race, first I must say “sorry” to my team because for the first time in my whole career I made a jump start that cost me a possible P4 or P5. Having said that, I’m happy because even with a double long lap penalty I was able to maintain very good pace, making a solid comeback from fifteenth to finish in the top ten. It wasn’t easy because I had to fight in a group and it was difficult to overtake. I managed to make some passes and then also tried to overtake Bassani on the last lap; we exchanged places a couple of times but in the end I couldn’t make it stick. So a pity about that initial mistake, but a big thank you to the team for their good work. We are feeling good on the bike at this track.”

Alvaro Bautista – DNF

“I can’t say it’s a happy day, but these things are part of the game and can happen. It was a pity. It was 100% my mistake. I just threw away a race that I was enjoying a lot. The feeling with the bike was good and I was feeling good. I was pushing a lot. I just lost the front a little bit more than other laps in that corner and I couldn’t save the crash. This is racing and it can happen. Last time, we had a problem with the motorbike. This time, I made a mistake. We have to reset to understand why I crashed. In any case, I’m sorry for my team because they worked really hard and also Ducati and the sponsors. It’s part of the game. We know we are competitive and fast so we just have to not make more mistakes. I cannot believe that, at 38 years old, I can make this kind of mistake, but it’s part of racing. The important thing is to learn and try to be a better rider tomorrow.”

WorldSBK Race One Results

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSBK Superpole

Back on pole like the glory days of old at Aragon, Rea’s sensational lap time was enough to give him pole position, his first front row since Donington Park in July, where he was also on pole position. He was seven-tenths up after three sectors on his pole lap, showing that the fast and flowing corners combined with Rea’s style and the Kawasaki ZX-10RR’s mechanical grip are a powerful package.

Alvaro Bautista will go from second place in a front row that’s rounded out by Razgatlioglu, salvaging his whole weekend to this point and putping himself in the frame for an early-stage attack on title rival Bautista.

WorldSBK Superpole Results

WorldSSP Race One

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) has one hand on the FIM Supersport World Championship title after his victory in Race 1 at MotorLand Aragon, coupled with Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) finishing outside the top ten, allowed him to open up his standings lead to 80 points. Bulega was untouchable on Saturday after a stunning Tissot Superpole session and he kept that form up in Race 1 to edge closer to a first World Supersport crown with victory by more than three- seconds as his rivals squabbled behind him.

Bulega crossed the line 3.5 seconds ahead of Schroetter for his 12th win and 16th podium of the season, and with Manzi dropping down the order, Bulega can be crowned Champion on Sunday if he leaves the Spanish circuit 100 points clear of Manzi; the gap is now 80. It was Schroetter’s seventh podium since his switch to WorldSSP while Montella claimed his fifth.

Caricasulo finished the race fourth and just two tenths away from a podium after the dramatic battle, with 4.3 seconds separating the top four.

De Rosa took fifth while Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse), who had joined the battle in the closing stages before dropping back down the order, was sixth and less than a second away from De Rosa. All three riders who finished between P4 and P6 were all in the podium fight at times before securing their finishing positions.

Dutch rider van Straalen was seventh despite being in the lead group in the early stages as the Yamaha rider dropped down the order, as he fended off Jorge Navarro (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Niki Tuuli (PTR Triumph) by just two tenths at the flag.

It was a closely-fought battle for the places in the top ten with French rider Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha), fresh from his maiden podium last time out, completed the top ten. He was almost 12 seconds off the lead as he benefitted from Manzi’s last-lap excursion. Manzi was just a quarter of a second behind Debise at the line.

Wildcard Yeray Ruiz (MDR Offitec Yamaha) secured points at his home round with 12th while Alvaro Diaz (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) was 13th. The reigning WorldSSP300 Champion equalled his best result in WorldSSP as he secured points as well as finishing as the lead WorldSSP Challenge rider. He was directly ahead of MotoE race winner Nicholas Spinelli in 14th as he took points on his return to WorldSSP action after missing the French Round. Ondrej Vostatek (PTR Triumph) completed the points-scoring places.

Tom Edwards was the first Aussie across the line in 18th place while countryman Luke Power carded aa 22nd place finish.

John McPhee’s first race with D34G Racing ended after just one complete lap as he crashed at Turn 3 at the start of Lap 2. He was the first retirement from the race. Tom Booth-Amos’ (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) race ended on Lap 6 when he had a technical issue, while debutant Hector Garzo (Yamaha Thailand Racing Team) crashed out on Lap 9 and Turn 7.

WorldSSP Race One Results

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP Qualifying Results

WorldSSP300 Race One

It was an emotional Saturday for Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) as he claimed his first FIM Supersport 300 World Championship win in a dramatic fight-to-the-line with teammate Jeffrey Buis, whose grip on the Championship battle tightened with his podium and rival Dirk Geiger (Freudenberg KTM – Paligo Racing) crashed from the podium places at MotorLand Aragon.

WorldSSP300 Race One Results (Restarted)

WorldSSP300 Qualifying Results

WorldSSP300 Championship Points

WorldSBK Aragon Schedule
(AEST)

2023 FIM Superbike World Championship Calendar
Date	Circuit	WSBK	WSSP600	WSSP300
24-26 Feb	Phillip Island	X	X
3-5 Mar	Mandalika	X	X
21-23 Apr	Assen	X	X	X
5-7 May	Catalunya	X	X	X
2-4 Jun	Misano	X	X	X
30 Jun-02 Jul	Donington Park	X	X
14-16 Jul	Imola	X	X	X
28-30 Jul	Autodrom Most	X	X	X
8-10 Sep	Magny-Cours	X	X	X
22-24 Sep	Aragón	X	X	X
29-Sep-01 Oct	Algarve	X	X	X
13-15 Oct	San Juan Villicum	X	X