Saturday round up from WorldSBK/WorldSSP at Donington

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Six – Donington Park

WorldSBK Race One

Saturday at Donington saw Alvaro Bautista taking another extraordinary victory as he brought Ducati back to the top step of the podium in the UK Round after a 12 year absence. Ducati also topped World Supersport on Saturday with Bulega extended his championship lead.

After starting from second on the grid Bautista engaged in a spectacular initial battle with Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes. 

After taking the lead on lap 10, the Bautista’s race pace was too much for his combatants to contend with, Bautista crossing the finish line with a comfortable margin over Razgatlioglu, who in-turn had three-seconds over Rea by the chequered flag.

Bautista’s victory at Donington continues an incredible winning streak for the Spaniard who has won every race he has finished this year, 15 out of 16 contests held so far.  This also extended his unbroken winning streak to 11, matching his own record from 2019 and Jonathan Rea’s 11-win streak in 2018. 

The podium for Toprak was his 13th in succession but despite that impressive record he is now 91-points behind Bautista. 

Jonathan Rea’s podium was his 250th in World Superbike, a record that is seems almost untouchable as his lead over second placed Troy Corser on that table is now an incredible 120 podiums. 

Despite little experience at the circuit Donington marked a breakthrough for Danilo Petrucci with the Barni Ducati rider beating Andrea Locatelli and Alex Lowes to fourth place. Locatelli remains third in the championship, 71-points behind team-mate Razgatlioglu, but 16-points ahead of Jonathan Rea. 

Scott Redding was the highest placed BMW in eighth by a nose over Tom Sykes while Remy Gardner rounded out the top ten ahead of Xavi Vierge, who was the highest placed Honda finisher in 11th. 

WorldSBK Race One Results

WorldSBK Rider Quotes

Alvaro Bautista – P1

“Maybe in this circuit, fewer people were expecting me to win, especially because in the past it was a difficult track for us. We have never won here, and it has been 12 years since Ducati last won at this circuit. But every year is a new year, so you cannot compare what happened this year with the previous one. You always have to give your best because you never know how you will feel on track, especially this season with the new asphalt.

“Today’s race was a big challenge because nobody knew what would happen after 10 or 11 laps with the tires. I had a good start, trying to take the lead. Then I found myself behind Toprak and Jonathan because they were pushing a bit more than me in the beginning as I was trying to be gentle with the tires. After a few laps behind them, I felt like I couldn’t ride the way I wanted, and the pace was slowing down. So, I decided to overtake the leader and at least try to establish my own pace.

“From that point on, I pushed harder and harder, and the lap times were incredible. I kept improving my lap times, setting new records. In the end, I managed to gain an advantage and win here. I’m happy because I have never enjoyed this track as much as I did today.”

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P2

“For me the race was not the best because I finish second position – last year I did three wins so today I cannot be really happy. The pace this year is incredible, even with SC0 tyre. I was feeling some problem in the race with chattering and the rear grip is not the best, but we know the problem so I hope tomorrow we can improve and can fight for the win. We will try some different set-up and check after Warm-Up. Today – every lap I try more than 100% but it was not possible to fight for the win, tomorrow I believe we can but we will see.”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“To get my 250th podium makes me proud but it also makes me feel really old! It is nice and I feel it is beyond my wildest dreams to have achieved what I have done already.  I just enjoy it and hopefully there are many more to come. We won Superpole and just that little lift of being on pole is great for the guys in the garage. Donington is a good track for us so we should be strong here. In the beginning of the race, especially when Toprak was in front, I felt really comfortable to be there, enough to want to go past him and have clear air in front of me. In the middle of the race, when Alvaro was in front, the pace was faster. He was in the mid/high 1’26s and I was in the low 1’27s. In that situation I was trying harder, braking on the limit, and maybe overcooking it by a small margin. There is so much grip from the new track surface that the rear traction was good, which was pushing me into the corners. There is not that sensation where you can drift the bike into the corner by using more front brake. So we just need some more margin from the bike for tomorrow. Without looking at the data yet, we have an idea. My race was quite inconsistent, but even when Danilo was putting me under some pressure, which I could see on my pit-board. I was still able to be quite fast, lapping in the 1’27 low laps times, if a little sporadically. So the pace is there. I consumed the rear tyre but didn’t completely kill it, so there is reason for optimism with the rear of the bike. We just need to create that margin at the front so that if I do get in ‘hot’ I can still stop it.”

Danilo Petrucci – P4

“Today I really hoped to reach the podium, but on the last lap I settled for it, I did not want to take the risk of repeating what happened in Misano and in any case I would not have had room to pass Jonny, who was very strong under braking. In any case it is really a step forward”.

Andrea Locatelli – P5

“It was an interesting race – really difficult in the beginning honestly! I was fighting a lot with the rear grip, but we need to be happy because it was the first time that we are riding really fast in Donington. Immediately, the feeling from Friday has been good. We lost the opportunity with qualifying to start on the first two rows, I am a little bit disappointed about this but tomorrow we have two more chances to get a good result. We will try to get something more tomorrow, but it’s not bad to be back in the top five, fighting until the end and finding a good rhythm! So we just need to adjust a bit for the beginning of the race and I think we can try to fight for the podium.”

Alex Lowes – P6

“In Superpole I felt great. On the my last lap I came down Craner Curves and there was a piece of bike in the track, and I hit it. So I had to abort my last lap. But I had been out already with an SCX tyre before my first go on a qualifier and I had set a 1’26.4 and 1’26.6 lap. I had crashed in the previous two Superpoles, so I was making sure I got a couple of ‘banking’ laps put in, then I was going for it on my last Superpole lap. The first sector of that fast lap was better, then I hit something on the track. It was a shame because I expected I would be on the front row. My pace went down more in the middle of the race. The brake lever was coming back to handlebar and for three or four laps it was messy in the middle of the race, when I was behind Jonathan. I was adjusting the lever a lot so it was hard under braking today and I couldn’t keep the rhythm I wanted. Every lap I had to adjust the brake on the back straight. I felt quite good again at the end after Petrucci passed me, and then Locatelli passed me. I was able to stay in the 1’27s and stop Bassani from catching me in the last two laps. I was able to dig in at the end and the race was not so bad, all things considered. It is so close in WorldSBK now and we are not too far away. To finish sixth with those issues, and be able to fight at the end, gives me good optimism for tomorrow.”

Remy Gardner – P10

“It was a tough day, especially in the qualifying. Missing track time was a shame, and Donington Park surely isn’t the easiest track to learn. Anyway, for the race we made some important changes and I started to understand the circuit a bit better. In the final laps I started to get the flow and at the end we gained eight positions, which isn’t bad. We’ll keep working for tomorrow, hoping we’ll be able to put in another recovery.”

Xavi Vierge – P11

“Another race where we had to fight hard to recover after starting further back on the grid. The conditions surely didn’t help us as they were less than ideal in this morning’s FP3, which meant we basically went straight into qualifying. I struggled as always with the soft tyre and was not able to go fast, so had to start from seventeenth on the grid. This made for an uphill race. And it’s a real shame as my feeling on the bike during the race was good, better with the hard tyre than with the soft, and in fact I almost matched my Superpole flying lap time. So I’m happy with that, but losing so much ground off the line affected our race. We scored a few points and that’s another positive, but we need to find a solution to be able to exploit the soft tyre, that’s crucial. Having said that, a big thank you to everyone on the team because they work incredibly hard and support me so much.”

Dominique Aegerter – P12

“For sure missing valuable track time wasn’t ideal for us, even though it was the same for everyone. In the Superpole we were able to perform a great final lap and I felt happy and had good grip on the bike. Then, in Race 1 I had the same good vibes while the grip lasted, but once I started losing it, things became difficult to manage. We’ll have a lot of data to work on for Sunday’s races, I’m confident we can find the way to be competitive tomorrow.”

Michael Rinaldi – P13

“It’s a shame. In the first lap, I had an issue with the rear. I even thought it was an engine-related problem, but it turned out to be just a wheel lock-up. I lost many positions and found myself last. But I didn’t give up. It was important to keep going and gather data. I’m confident that tomorrow will be a whole different story.”

Iker Lecuona – DNF

“At the moment I’m experiencing some pain in my left wrist but fortunately nothing is broken. It was not an easy race. In qualifying the feeling was not so bad to be honest, but I made a few mistakes on my second flying lap. Without that, I could have qualified a few positions further forward, so I was feeling confident going into the race. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be though and my start was probably the best part of my race! For once I made a good start and felt good into the first corner, overtaking on the brakes. But despite feeling good and strong with the front, I was immediately struggling with the rear and had zero grip. When Remy overtook me, I tried to respond but I was pushing a lot on the front and then crashed at corner four, unable to save it. I’m sorry for the team but we need to keep working and find a way for tomorrow. I have the feeling I can do well but for some reason I cannot go fast so now we will check the data to try to understand and make a decision.”

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSBK Superpole Qualifying Results

WorldSSP

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) secured another victory after a battle with Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in the opening World Supersport contest at Donington overnight.

Bulega started from pole position and maintained his lead throughout the race, setting lap record pace. He built a gap of two-seconds over Manzi in the early stages and managed to hold onto his advantage despite Manzi’s efforts to close in. With the victory Bulega extended his championship lead to 36-points.

Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) secured third place, claiming his first podium of the year.

Battles for fourth and fifth places resulting in Glenn van Straalen from EAB Racing Team taking fifth, and a last-lap tussle between Valentin Debise and Marcel Schroetter, allowed Debise to finish in sixth.

Tom Edwards bagged some points for a 14th place finish while countryman Luke Power took the flag in 22nd.

Oli Bayliss didn’t start the race after high-siding out of turn 12 during Supersport which resulted in the Aussie youngster suffering a left shoulder dislocation.  He was declared unfit for Saturday’s race but is hoping to pass a medical on Sunday morning and front the grid for race two.

WorldSSP Race One Results

WorldSSP Qualifying Results

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSBK Donington 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