WSBK Aragon R1 | Another 15-second victory for Bautista

2019 WSBK
Round Three – Aragon

WorldSBK Race One

Alvaro Bautista got a dream start, blasting clear into the lead by Turn 1. However, there was drama behind as Jonathan Rea and Markus Reiterberger collided on the line, leaving the German rider on the floor in the middle of the pack. He was able to get up, but his race was certainly over.

Tom Sykes was able to give some positivity to the German manufacturer, as he got into second position, ahead of Alex Lowes. There was more carnage on the opening lap, as Leandro ‘Tati’ Mercado and Alessandro Delbianco crashed at Turn 12.

Chaz Davies was moving up the order very quickly, into fourth by Lap 2, racing up from eighth on the grid. Jonathan Rea had also made a great start, up to fifth position, whilst the rider who had suffered the most in the opening laps was German, Sandro Cortese, who was now down to seventh as Michael van der Mark moved through on his Yamaha compatriot.

As the race progressed, a mistake from Alex Lowes at the final corner allowed Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes to come through, whilst Chaz Davies also got in on the action. Four riders, representing four manufacturers, side-by-side down the straight for second position. Meanwhile, way out in the lead, Bautista achieved a new lap record, with 1’49.755 cementing his position as the rider to beat in WorldSBK.

Tom Sykes soon dropped back behind the main protagonists but Eugene Laverty was right in the mix, picking up places and soon, was amongst the leading group. The Irishman made it into fifth position in the final third of the race, before also making a bold move with three laps to go on Lowes at Turn 12. The Irishman was now fourth and looking good for a podium.

Jonathan Rea was looking good for second place and continuously hounded Chaz Davies through Turns 3, 4 and 5. Rea led the battle going on to the final lap, with Davies all over the rear-end of the reigning four-time champion. Eugene Laverty was able to make his way to the back of the duo, looking hard for a way ahead of Davies. Into Turn 14, Davies was lining Rea up for a move down the back straight before Eugene Laverty clipped him and crashed out. Davies stayed aboard but the damage had been done.

Completing the race without any such drama, Alvaro Bautista took a seventh win, whilst Jonathan Rea took a seventh second position and Chaz Davies in third place – his first podium of the 2019 season. Laverty’s crash promoted Alex Lowes to fourth and a resurgent Tom Sykes, who picked off Cortese and van der Mark in the closing laps. Thus Sykes was fifth with the Dutch and German stars behind, eighth place was taken by Toprak Razgatlioglu, ahead of a disappointing Leon Haslam in ninth and top Kawasaki after Tissot Superpole, Jordi Torres; the 31-year-old Spaniard taking his first back-to-back top tens of the season.

Outside of the top ten, it was Leon Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Racing) ahead of a dejected Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK), with second-row starter Michael Ruben Rinaldi (BARNI Racing Team) down in 13th. Ryuichi Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Racing) and disappointed Eugene Laverty concluded the points.

Bautista’s win makes it 348 for Ducati, meaning an iconic 350 at Aragon this weekend can still happen. It is his seventh consecutive win and Spain’s first at a Spanish circuit since Ruben Xaus in Race 1, at Valencia in 2007 – also riding a Ducati. Chaz Davies’ podium means it is the first time two Ducati riders have been on the same podium in almost an entire year: MotorLand Aragon Race 2.

Alvaro Bautista – P1

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“It’s a fantastic feeling to win a race but to do it in your home race is even more special, and I’m so happy for all the Spanish fans. I tried from the beginning to set my pace and get some advantage from lap 1, trying not to lose concentration. Although I had a comfortable lead on the others, I really enjoyed myself a lot with the bike today, sliding into and exiting the corners but I was always focussed on my riding. At the end to win the race and become the first Spanish rider to win in Aragón is truly a dream, especially with all my family and friends here!”

Jonathan Rea – P2

“The race position today could not be any better and we achieved the maximum, even from tenth place on the grid. It was an eventful race for me and very exciting, with a lot of passes. All in all, we are very happy with the points and being on the podium, but still a little bit disappointed and bemused by the gap to the front, which is too big. In Superpole we made some mistakes as a team, both myself and the guys, from a time management side. We planned for two laps on the qualifying tyre but I was released a little bit too late then I made a mistake on my first lap and sat up in sector one, thinking to conserve the tyre for one last effort. But, when I came across the line, I realised my Superpole lap time was from the race tyre in the earlier laps.”

Chaz Davies – P3

“I’m really satisfied with today’s result, more so for my team and my side of the garage than me, because they’ve been working so hard all through the winter. It’s not easy when things are not going so well, but we’re always working hard looking for answers and trying our best whether its tenth or here on the podium. I had a nice battle with Johnny and Alex, I really enjoyed it. It felt like I probably had better pace but I wasn’t able to get out of the group. I had a couple of issues at the end of the race that kept me out of the fight for second otherwise things were quite solid with the guys running for the podium this season.”

Alex Lowes – P4

“It was a good battle today. It’s a shame it wasn’t at the front; there was someone a bit too far up the road, but I felt with six or seven laps to go I could hold on to second place. Even when Johnny Rea came past me, I still felt like I had the pace to fight back but then, with just three laps to go, there was a big drop in rear grip and I couldn’t keep the same pace. It was a little disappointing at the end of the race but, apart from that, I enjoyed it and it was good to get a strong race under our belt to give the guys some information, because with the cooler weather this morning we’ve not had too much consistent track conditions this weekend. Now I’m looking forward to trying to improve the R1 a little bit more, ready for tomorrow.”

Tom Sykes – P5

“I think for how early we are in the project, the programme has just started a few months ago, it is really impressive what the whole BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team has achieved so far. We’ve made small changes to the bike, of course now we are playing a bit with the electronics, but I think the biggest difference to the previous rounds is that we have a lot more corners here, I think it’s clear to see that we are consistent in the first sectors and we are only losing out in the last sector. In Superpole, I was a bit angry with myself going wide on the last corner as it could have been pole position but the target was front row and then top 5 for the race and we have achieved that. On the grid, as the temperatures were quite cool, I opted for the harder rear tyre. It wasn’t too bad but after a few laps I could see that the sun would come out and temperatures rose. But I enjoyed the race. I was battling with some guys who were on the softer tyre but the RR chassis is certainly working really well. I am enjoying riding the BMW S 1000 RR and I’m quite satisfied. It was my decision on the tyre and I just got caught out a bit with the rising temperature. But we definitely got some good information for tomorrow. I’m really excited what’s to come during the season and for now I still think we can make a better race tomorrow.”

Michael van der Mark – P6

“We made some changes to the bike this morning, but we still didn’t find the right setting for me and that impacted on my Superpole performance. For the race we decided to take a bit of a gamble with the set-up and, even on the way to the grid, I knew it was one that would pay off. I got a good start, but then Reiterberger crashed right in front of me and I hit something, so I lost a bit of time there. Right from the start I had a better feeling with the bike and my pace was much better, but I was struggling on corner entry, with the rear locking and sliding a bit too much. It meant I could stay with the guys battling for second in front of me, but it was difficult to find somewhere to put in a pass. I tried a few times, but as soon as the grip dropped then I was struggling even more on corner entry and couldn’t maintain the pace. I lost a position at the end, which is a shame, but the positive is that we made a massive step with the bike and we’re in a much better position now for the two races tomorrow.”

Sandro Cortese – P7

“I think today was a good day. P2 was our best result in qualifying so far and in the race we closed the gap to the front guys a lot. In Race 2 in Thailand the gap to the podium was 25 seconds and here it was only eight seconds that separated me from Johnny Rea, who was on the podium. In both races I was seventh, but it was two different seventh places and it’s the gap to the front that is important. So far I think we’ve made a really good job, we learnt a lot about what we need to improve for and I’m looking forward to the two races tomorrow.”

Leon Haslam – P9

“We have been struggling to get the bike to stop and I think I chose the wrong tyre for the race, the hard one. We knew that it was a good 0.6 or 0.7 per lap slower initially but I have not had the laps to do a race run on a soft one. With the temperatures being cool we did not go for it – and it looks like everyone else did. So there was a little bit of a mistake there and I think it cost me a lot. I got a real bad initial start. I think my pace after that wasn’t that bad, even though I was on the harder tyre and it was maybe enough to battle with that group fighting for fifth, that sort of area. We need to re-think things for tomorrow.”

WSBK Championship Points

1. Alvaro Bautista (ESP) Ducati (149 points)
2. Jonathan Rea (GBR) Kawasaki (118 points)
3. Alex Lowes (GBR)Yamaha (82 points)

World Supersport

The World Supersport championship returned to the MotorLand Aragon circuit in dry conditions for the Tissot Superpole session. A flurry of action at the end of the session saw Thomas Gradinger (Kallio Racing) become the first Austrian to secure a pole position in the history of the WorldSSP championship.

The Austrian rider put in a great lap with a masterful last sector to secure Austria’s first pole position in WorldSSP history. Gradinger also becomes the first Austrian since Christian Zaiser at EuroSpeedway Lausitz in 2007 to start on the front row. Second position on the grid went to Federico Caricasulo (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team), whilst his teammate, Randy Krummenacher, completed the all-Yamaha front row.

Heading up row two, championship leader Jules Cluzel (GMT94 YAMAHA) will hope for a fast start in order to battle hard to retain his championship lead, with him and Krummenacher level on points. Isaac Viñales (Kallio Racing) was fifth, with Raffaele De Rosa (MV AGUSTA Reparto Corse) in sixth, the first non-Yamaha on the grid.

Row three will see 2017 WorldSSP champion Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in seventh and less than half-a-second from pole position. Corentin Perolari (GMT94 YAMAHA) finished in eighth place despite a fast crash at Turn 16, with Japanese star Hikari Okubo (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in ninth. Completing the top ten was Hannes Soomer (MPM WILSport Racedays) for Honda, making it the second time in three Superpole sessions in 2019 that all four manufacturers have enjoyed top ten representation.

The leading Europe Supersport Cup rider was Kyle Smith (Team Pedercini Racing), in 13th place, as he makes his return to the WorldSSP field.

Pole position – Thomas Gradinger (Kallio Racing)

“We had a very positive start to the weekend. This is not one of my favorite track but I like it a lot and we did a very good job. It was a pity that the second free practice was held in wet condition but we were able to find a good setup and this makes us very confident for the race”.

World Supersport 300

Two frenetic WorldSSP300 Tissot Superpole sessions saw action and drama right the way through, with Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) qualifying on pole position from Group A.

Joining him on the front row also from Group A is Indonesian rider, Galang Hendra Pratama (Semakin Di Depan Biblion Motoxracing) who is second, with fellow Group A rider Hugo De Cancellis (Team Trasimeno) completing the front row. With a gap of just 0.020 between first and second, it really is going to be a hard race to call on Sunday.

Row two sees Marc Luna Bayen (Kawasaki GP Project) in fourth place, ahead of the first of the Group B riders, Andy Verdoia (BCD Yamaha MS Racing), as the 16-year-old placed well in his fourth WorldSSP300 race of his career. Completing the second row is Guillem Erill (DEZA – BOX 77 RACING), making it three Spanish riders on the front two rows at home in Aragon.

Reigning champion Ana Carrasco (Kawasaki Provec WorldSSP300) will start 13th, whilst fellow title rival and 2018 3rd-placed overall Scott Deroue (Kawasaki MOTOPORT) is only 15th. Marc Garcia, the returning 2017 WorldSSP champion could only manage 24th at his home circuit on his come back, just ahead of young Australia Tom Edwards.

The first ever WorldSSP300 last chance race was a thrilling encounter, as we awaited the six riders to come through to join the main grid on Sunday. Winning the race for the first time, Dutchman Jeffrey Buis (MTM Racing Team) was able to hang on the leading group of three, which consisted of Italian Jacopo Facco (Semakin Di Depan Biblion Motoxracing) and Brazilian, Eliton Gohara Kawakami (BCD Yamaha MS Racing).

Behind the leading trio, a familiar name but a different rider: Bahattin Sofuoglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing by TSM) finished 10 seconds behind the winner but in fourth place, meaning he had done enough to get himself on the grid for the main race on Sunday. Joining him, Australian Tom Bramich (Carl Cox-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) and Frenchman, Joseph Foray (Prodina IRCOS Kawasaki).

Just missing out behind the second trio was French rider, Romain Dore (Team MHP Racing-Patrick Pons) and Portuguese rider, Tomas Alonso (Kawasaki GP Project).

With six different nationalities from this race going through to compete in tomorrow’s main WorldSSP300 race, it highlights the international mix to the championship, whilst also the parity that it can bring to the motorcycling world.

Pole Position – Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team)

“We worked a lot during the winter test and yesterday and today it was a good Tissot Superpole. My lap was not perfect but it was enough to get me into pole position. I am sure tomorrow we will be able to fight for the win or for the podium. Thanks to everybody and I am looking forward to tomorrow”.

WorldSSP300 MotorLand Aragon Tissot Superpole

1. Manuel Gonzalez (Kawasaki ParkinGO Team) 2’06.938
2. Galang Hendra Pratama (Motoport Kawasaki) 2’06.958
3. Hugo De Cancellis (Team Trasimeno) 2’07.532