Tyre failure for Toprak hands Bautista the advantage

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Eight – Most

WorldSBK Superpole Race

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) went head-to-head in a great battle for victory in Sunday morning’s Tissot Superpole Race with the Turkish star claiming victory and denting Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) Championship lead even further.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) surged from P4 to P1 when the lights went out as he went in search of his first victory, but soon found himself demoted to third behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). The pair pulled away from the Motocorsa Ducati man as they battled it out for victory.

The Turkish star gained two places on Lap 4 as he first overtook Rea before passing Bassani as he moved into the lead. On Lap 6, Rea moved ahead of Toprak after the Turk ran wide at Turn 13 with a move into Turn 20, but the Yamaha rider responded at Turn 3 on the next lap.

The pair finished first and second while there was a battle for third raging behind them which was only decided at the penultimate corner on the final lap. With Bassani’s pace dropping off compared to the leaders, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was able to pass him at Turn 20 on Lap 10 to secure a podium finish from 14th on the grid to secure a front row start for Race 2, alongside Razgatlioglu and Rea.

Bassani secured fourth place ahead of Ducati rival Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) converted his front row start into sixth place ahead of Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark racing Team) had dropped down the order after he ran wide at Turn 1 on Lap 1 before fighting back to secure eighth. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) was ninth as he secured the final place on the third row for Race 2, with Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) just missing out with tenth.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) retired from inside the top ten when he had a spectacular crash on the opening lap, ending his points streak which started at Portimao Race 1 last year.

WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

WorldSBK Race Two

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) completed a remarkable Sunday turnaround as took his 18th win of the 2023 season as title rival Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) crashed out from the lead after initially resisting pressure from the reigning Champion.

Bautista didn’t get away well from the line well as the lights out went but still found himself into the lead heading into Turn 1, before he tried to pull out a gap.

In the early stages, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) battled hard over second with Rea making a move on the Yamaha man at the first chicane on Lap 4 before the 2021 Champion responded almost immediately. From there, the Yamaha star closed the gap on Bautista where the pair engaged in a barnstorming battle.

The pair were often looking to switch positions with Razgatlioglu claiming the lead on Lap 7 at Turn 13 with Bautista staying close and looking to make a move at Turn 1, but the Turkish star was able to respond under braking at the chicane. On Lap 12, Bautista’s tactic changed as he looked to pass his rival at Turn 20 on the inside, but the Yamaha rider responded through Turn 21 before the pair were battling under braking into Turn 1.

However, on Lap 17, Razgatlioglu’s race came to an end. He had a highside heading out of Turn 2 and into Turn 3 after his rear tyre lost all its air. This allowed Bautista to claim victory by more than four-seconds to gain 25 points on his rival, the Championship gap expanding to 74 points just when it looked as though Toprak was firmly back in the game.

Discussing what caused Razgatlioglu’s crash, Pirelli’s Motorcycle Racing Director, Giorgio Barbier, said: “In WorldSBK Race 2, with the new C0567 rear specification, we recorded three cases of blistering: Rea, Gardner and Razgatlioglu. For the first two, the blisters were extremely small and had no effect on the performance and race result, whereas in Razgatlioglu’s case, the tyre had two more evident blisters and the telemetry data shows sudden deflation of the tyre. Even if the Yamaha rider’s race pace was extremely high and none of the other riders’ tyres show any signs of stress or wear, these types of episodes clearly must not occur, so we will conduct an in-depth laboratory analysis of the three tyres with blistering to figure out what may have caused it.”

The battle for second went down to the wire with three riders separated by 0.134s across the line. Rea had been in second after Razgatlioglu’s crash but his pace was slower than Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) as the two Italians closed in on the Kawasaki.

On the final lap, Petrucci went around the outside of Turn 21 and got a much better run down the straight to pip Rea to second by just 0.073s. Bassani, who lost a heap of time when he ran through the gravel at the chicane in the early stages, was 0.061s off the podium.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secured fifth place after dropping away from the podium fight in the closing stages, while Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) concluded the strongest weekend of his WorldSBK career with sixth as he finished three-seconds down on Rinaldi.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) bounced back from his Tissot Superpole Race crash, and a grid slot outside of the top nine, to finish in seventh. He was ahead of Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth while Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) claimed top Honda honours with ninth. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) completed the top ten.

Rookie Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was just half-a-second away from a place in the top ten as he came home in 11th while fending off Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). The Spanish rider was less than a tenth away from the double WorldSSP Champion as he finished 12th, while Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) duelled it out for 13th. Lowes was running in the top ten in the early stages but dropped down the order before coming home in 14th, 16 seconds clear of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) who concluded his comeback round in the points.

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Quotes

Alvaro Bautista – 427 points (1st)

“I think this is the most beautiful victory of the season so far. I am sure: together with Toprak we have given a lot of entertainment to the fans here and all the fans watching from home. I’m sorry he crashed because I would have liked to have fought with him to the end even though I knew I probably wouldn’t have had a chance. I am very happy, especially for the team. Let’s go into the holidays calm”.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – 353 points (2nd)

“It was a very strange race – my rear tyre burst and also I am surprised, because after I crashed I am looking back thinking chain or something like this, and I see my tyre. Very strange, this is the first time in my life. I am lucky because also not a fast corner, I crash on a slower corner – this is good and I am ok. But, in the last six laps I am riding more calm – I see the gap getting big to Bautista and the feeling was really good on my R1. It was a good race for me, I was enjoying the fight – we fight clean and I think all fans enjoying! Especially the first corner! I just try to do my best, very bad luck for me. I’m not angry for Pirelli – I don’t know why this tyre is like this, I am just very surprised and it is very strange. We have many races, and I keep looking to the future and keep fighting.”

Jonathan Rea – 251 points (3rd)

“In the second race today I thought I was through on Danilo Petrucci but I could feel him touching me, and any more aggression on my part would cause contact. If he is on the outside he has more risk, but if I had made contact I would have had as much chance to crash as he did. I was super-happy with my weekend so I didn’t need to do something stupid in the last corner. I think if we tally up the points for all three races we come up with the most overall. It was an incredible weekend for me and the team. We did so well in the pitbox not to get emotional or down because at one time we were miles away. Where we came from on Friday? I was nowhere. I didn’t feel good with the bike but we tried to make some improvements. The races worked out pretty well, first with the Intermediate tyre in Race One then in the Superpole Race earlier today I felt good battling with Toprak. That gave me some confidence that in the long race I could be OK. In Race Two I had not enough to go with Toprak and Alvaro. At the end of the race I was losing a lot of traction and the bike became quite physical to ride. It was all I could do to try to fend off Petrucci.”

Andrea Locatelli – 227 points (4th)

“A bit of a strange weekend first of all, and a bit unlucky – unfortunately we didn’t get a lot of points during this weekend but honestly it was not easy. We tried to push to get the maximum in every session but this morning in the Superpole Race we were unlucky. I lost the rear, maybe I was a bit off line and the conditions after the rain were tricky – then to start from the back in Race 2 was difficult. We need to learn from it but also forget it and look forward to Magny-Cours, we will try again from there to get more feeling and more confidence to fight again. I am a bit sad because I would like to get more points, especially on this track because in 2021 it was a good circuit for us. But now we will keep working and prepare well for the next races to finish the season strong.”

Danilo Petrucci – 155 points (6th)

“We’ve had a great weekend and I’m really pleased with the result. This morning we had trouble in the Superpole Race as, at the first very corner I had to avoid two riders, ran long and lost many positions. Then in race 2 Gerloff crashed right in front of me at the first corner and I was forced to make up a lot of ground. I didn’t think I stood a chance as everyone was so far ahead. But then I saw the first independent rider was Gardner and I was able to reach and pass him. When I saw Toprak crash, I realised that the podium was within reach, and I started to really push hard. The last lap was really heart-pounding because I passed Rea at turn one, he got me back through turn two and I tried again at turn four, but I realised there was a risk we might both crash. I tried one last time right at the end and made it, then he crossed lines with me, and we took the final corner side by side. Fortunately, he’s a great rider and left me a little room, which I exploited to finish second! I want to thank the whole team for their incredible work. Leaving the Czech Republic with two podiums is an amazing result and I’m really happy.”

Michael Rinaldi – 147 points (7th)

”I can only be satisfied above all with the progress we showed over the weekend. The feeling has grown steadily and even today the sensations were good. In the final laps, however, I didn’t feel I was in the ideal condition to be able to protect the podium and I congratulate Axel (Bassani) and Danilo (Petrucci) who seemed to have more. Five times in fifth position in the last six races: now it’s time to take another step. See you at Magny Cours.”

Alex Lowes – 121 points (8th)

“I was happy with the Superpole Race this morning because we had some good pace. It was a shame to lose a position to Remy Gardner on the last lap because I had a nice battle with him through the race. But I felt my pace with the SC0 tyre was quite good. We kept the changes that we made for the Superpole Race and I had a reasonable start. On lap four, I think it was Petrucci who hit me really late in Turn Six. Because I was already at the apex I had no chance to react. That ruined my race from that point because I lost ten seconds and went back to 14th place. It is so tight now in WorldSBK and I didn’t have the pace to get towards the front groups. It is a shame because I felt I was riding better today than yesterday but the results don’t reflect it. I will take some time off now, spend time with the family and try to come back strongly in September.”

Dominique Aegerter – 114 points (9th)

“We had quite a busy Sunday. In the Superpole Race we were expecting a little bit more, and the race wasn’t easy to manage. Then, in Race 2 we had a good start, but we missed some pace to fight with those in front. I’m still learning a lot of things on the Superbike machine, but we’ve had some very good races in the first part of the season. Unfortunately, I’m still suffering a bit from my arm pump problem, and I hope we can solve it during the summer break. I would like to thank the team, Yamaha and all the people who are supporting me. In September I’ll try everything to get back to where I should be.”

Xavi Vierge – 105 points (10th)

“So, overall, I think we had a challenging weekend with some struggles at the beginning and some missed opportunities before we were able to find our way with the setup. In fact, after struggling in FP3, the team did really well to give me a bike I felt really comfortable with, and we enjoyed our best qualifying session of the season so far. Then we know how it went in Race 1 with the tyre choice, and so today we were looking for more. I made a very good start in the Superpole race and was able to fight very close to the frontrunners, but unfortunately Rinaldi hit me with the wing of his bike through turn 15 and I couldn’t save the crash. So it was important in race 2 to finish the race and we did that, placing top 9. Not what we are aiming for but it’s not too bad a result either, so, again we will take the positives, learn from the experience and look forward to the next test we have in Aragon at the end of the month to keep working, improving and pushing hard to achieve our goals.”

Scott Redding – 99 points (11th)

“Overall the weekend was pretty good. We were first on Friday in mixed conditions and second in FP3. We were a bit more up there which was nice. Obviously we had to take a gamble in different conditions but it paid off. I was a bit upset with the result in this morning’s Superpole race. We had an issue, something was not quite right, an it made it difficult to stop the bike. It was hard because I wanted to try and finish in the top nine, to have a better start position for race two, and knew I had better pace than that but I just couldn’t do it, so it was frustrating. In race two, I wanted to try and bounce back and show my potential again as a rider, so to come from 15th and have a good pace in the second half of the race was good. It took me a while to get through a few guys and to get a clear track but I felt I was riding well and the pace was good. I think we were 13 seconds off the leader of which I was probably lost three, four, five in the beginning. It wasn’t ideal but I felt strong and the main thing is I enjoyed riding the bike today.”

Remy Gardner – 98 points (12th)

“Overall it’s been a very positive weekend. Today I managed to stay up the front in the Superpole Race and have consistent speed, and then in Race 2 I could see the pack leaders and I felt good with a strong rhythm. In the last part of the race the tyres started to drop, and I felt I was on the limit, we used them up a bit too much and the other guys preserved theirs better. Anyway, this weekend is a confidence boost for us and hopefully we can be closer to the Top 5 in the next races.”

Iker Lecuona – 87 points (13th)

“It has been something of a complicated weekend but with some good moments too. After a strong race yesterday, albeit in strange conditions, the feeling wasn’t bad in this morning’s sprint race either. I was one of few riders to go for a hard rear tyre and I could maintain decent speed to finish tenth, nothing special but OK anyway. This afternoon I made a less than ideal start, which happens sometimes unfortunately. As a result, I got caught up in the group and in the chaos of the first turn another rider ran wide, which caused me to lose ground and positions. After that I was able to recover to some extent; my target was the group just up front that included my teammate. Step by step I closed the gap, passed one rider and arrived right behind Xavi. I tried to pass him as well, but I realized it was too risky as the strong points of our bikes are the same, so I could not find a way to overtake in a “safe” way so I stayed there in case he left the door open or made a mistake. He didn’t, and when he passed Baz I tried to do the same but instead lost one position. Having said all that, we collected some points this weekend, had some fun yesterday and will now keep working to prepare for the next races.”

Garrett Gerloff – 68 points (14th)

“I was happy to stay in the top nine in the Superpole race. I had a really good start in race two but unfortunately, the bike went into neutral going into turn one and I ended up crashing. That was the end of the weekend and I am just sad about it. I know our potential is really good so it makes it even more frustrating but after the summer break we will come back stronger in France.”

Loris Baz – 42 points (16th)

“It wasn’t a bad weekend. We have now had two good weekends in a row and I don’t know when yhis was last the case. I am happy as I didn’t crash and nobody took me out, so hopefully we have left the bad luck behind us. I am even more proud and happy of the job we did here because in Imola, I felt really good from the beginning. Here I didn’t feel comfortable on Friday or yesterday and was struggling a lot in some parts of the track. But we managed to improve the bike and that on a track where we struggled last year. So yes, it was good. My Superpole race was okay. I was struggling a lot to overtake Dominique Aegerter but we were not in the top nine and that is what matters in the sprint race. Race two was good. I had a really strong start and then I was trying to go at my pace, to not make any mistakes and I be there at the end. I struggled a bit with arm pump and I was still in pain from my left shoulder since the crash in Imola. But I am happy. In the top ten again. I was just a bit disappointed to lose the top nine on the last lap.”

Michael van der Mark – 23 points (17th)

“This Sunday was OK for me. My priority was to do as many laps as possible. Of course you also want to go as fast as possible too. In this morning’s Superpole race, I was happy. I had quite a good rhythm but it was not more than ten laps. Then in race two, I had a good start but was a bit too cautious into turn one and then I was behind a big group. I stayed with them for a while but I was pushing too much to stay with them so I backed off because I knew I had to do as many laps as possible. It was a lonely race but we had to finish, we had to do the laps. So I am happy with the result. Overall, it’s nice to be back.”

Team Managers

Paul Denning – Pata Yamaha Team Principal

“Incredibly disappointing end to a very positive race weekend here in Most. Toprak’s superb performance yesterday was backed up by a brilliant victory in the Superpole Race – and after a fierce battle with Alvaro in Race 2, finally Toprak had made enough of a gap to start flowing and we had no doubt that the race at that point was won. Unfortunately, Toprak suffered a catastrophic rear tyre failure, resulting in an instantaneous puncture. The only positive from that was that it did not happen in one of the extremely fast left-hand corners on this track and that he is ok. What should have been a 44-point gap to the championship lead at the end of this event is now again 74, but we can only keep doing our best and pushing race-by-race. For Loka, today was a disappointment – crash in the Superpole Race and a steady P7 in Race 2: not what he and the R1 are capable of. So we look forward to regrouping with Loka in Magny-Cours and pushing towards the podium fight yet again.”

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“It was a very mixed weekend, both in terms of results and weather. And these were partly related. For Michael, his comeback weekend unfortunately started negatively. In FP2, there was a mechanical issue that caused a crash. Fortunately, he was okay and from Saturday onwards things went smoothly in technical terms, and it was good that he could do several laps to assess where he stands and what he needs to work on. He finished all the races and scored points. We are very satisfied with that. For Scott, we were very strong in the free practices, however qualifying was difficult. The session is short and tight, and with the rule that lap times get cancelled with yellow flags, even with a strong pace, it’s possible to come up short. And that was the case with Scott. However, he made a good decision in the first race and came in again before the start to switch to intermediates. He secured an extremely strong fourth place. In the second main race, he climbed from P15 to eighth. He had a solid pace again, but starting from the back is still challenging. Garrett showed strong lap times in the free practices and had a very good qualifying with P6. Unfortunately, he couldn’t capitalise on the Superpole position in the first race due to a crash in the wet conditions. In the Superpole race, he stayed within the crucial top nine. He also had a great start in race two, but unfortunately, he went into neutral and crashed. Although he continued with very strong lap times, he was outside the points. Loris had a consistently solid weekend, and we can be satisfied with his two top-10 results. Now we head into the summer break, and in early September, we hope for a strong start to the final stretch of the season in Magny-Cours.”

Giorgio Barbier – Pirelli

“First of all, just a brief comment to clarify an issue that generated a bit of confusion for the fans yesterday. The intermediate tyres, like the rain tyres or slicks, are available to all riders and teams in the same quantity. In Race 1, by their own choice, some teams had not asked to have them mounted on rims or they simply had them mounted in the garage and did not take them out to the grid and this is why they did not use them, not because Pirelli had not made them available. The unstable weather once again influenced the races today, particularly the WorldSSP race. The riders who finished on the podium were the ones who decided to stay out on the track with slicks when it began to rain, risking a bit. In WorldSBK Race 2, with the new C0567 rear specification, we recorded three cases of blistering: Rea, Gardner and Razgatlioğlu. For the first two, the blisters were extremely small and had no effect on the performance and race result, whereas in Razgatlioğlu’s case, the tyre had two more evident blisters and the telemetry data shows sudden deflation of the tyre. Even if the Yamaha rider’s race pace was extremely high and none of the other riders’ tyres show any signs of stress or wear, these types of episode clearly must not occur, so we will conduct an in-depth laboratory analysis of the three tyres with blistering to figure out what may have caused it.”

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSSP Race Two

Tarran Mackenzie (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) stunned the FIM Supersport World Championship as he opted not to change tyres when the rain came down during the second race at the Autodrom Most on his way to a maiden win.

After starting from 22nd on the grid, Mackenzie’s pace as the track got wetter and then dried out again allowed him to move into the lead of the race, while there were more title race twists. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) and title rival Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) both scored zero points.

Bulega and Manzi tried to pull away as the lights went out in the dry conditions, but their races soon unravelled as they, along with most of the field, opted to switch tyres on Lap 8 as the rain fell harder and soaked the circuit. Manzi was ahead of Bulega when they entered the pits but, on the wet-weather tyres, the Ducati rider was able to get ahead of Manzi. However, the track dried out again with Bulega slipping to 16th and Manzi retiring with a technical problem on Lap 11.

While most riders opted to pit, several decided not to and this allowed rookie Mackenzie to surge to the front of the field, taking huge chunks out of his rivals by lapping around five-seconds quicker than his rivals. Although his pace dropped off as the track dried, the gap was enough to hold off Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) to claim his first win in the Championship and Honda’s first since Lusail in 2016.

Tarran Mackenzie – P1

“I’m so happy! Of course I didn’t expect all this. But I knew that, in a scenario like today’s, I would be ready to stick my neck out. I’d seen the SSP300 race yesterday where one of the riders opted not to pit and stay out, so I essentially did that, and it paid off today. When the rain came, I just put my head down and did my own thing. Before I knew it, I was P7, then P5, P3 but there were still ten laps to go, and I knew that our pace in the dry might not be enough. But I stayed focused, and we did it! I still can’t believe it to be honest. It’s been a tough year for the entire team and so to take a result like this is incredible. We always bring something new each weekend and I cannot thank the team enough, they are doing their very best to improve the package and I cannot ask for more than that, so I always do my best to give 100% as well, on and off the track. This win is for the entire team, Midori, Honda, PETRONAS and all the sponsors.”

Schroetter was joined on the podium by teammate Bahattin Sofuoglu who had a dramatic race. In the dry, the one-time winner was rapid as he looked to make his way up the order, but he crashed at Turn 10 on Lap 7 as the rain got heavier. The Turk was able to bounce back from this to finish in third to make it to MV Agustas on the rostrum and giving Sofuoglu his fourth podium albeit almost 19 seconds down on his team-mate.

John McPhee (Vince64 by Puccetti Racing) made it two Brits in the top four as he also opted not to switch tyres to claim his second-best WorldSSP result after his Australia podium. He was ahead of Malaysia’s Adam Norrodin (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team) in fifth, who put two Hondas in the top five in what has been a challenging year for the Japanese manufacturer.

Luke Power did not make the start of Sunday’s race while countryman Tom Edwards only managed a couple of laps. Oli Bayliss missed this round after recent shoulder surgery.

WorldSSP Race Two Results

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race Two

Aldi Satya Mahendra (Team BrCorse) secured a dream maiden FIM Supersport 300 World Championship victory in the wet conditions at the Autodrom Most in a shortened Race 2. The Indonesian rider pounced at the start as he took advantage of the difficult conditions before resisting pressure from his rivals in a shortened battle during the Acerbis Czech Round, eventually making a last-lap pass to claim his first victory in his fourth race in the Championship.

WorldSSP300 Race Two Results

World Supersport 300 Championship Points

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