Toprak tops race one in Portugal and takes upper hand in championship chase

2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round 11 – Portimao

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) raced to victory, his first in WorldSBK at the Algarve circuit in Portimao and his 11th of the year, whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) crashed at speed from the lead of the race at turn 15. The Championship gap is now 45-points with Toprak leading the way, whilst Rea loses more ground.

WorldSBK Portimao Race One Report

In what was one of the most intense opening five laps of the season, neither Razgatlioglu or Rea wanted to give an inch as they duelled hard. On lap two, Rea put a superb pass on Razgatlioglu at turn 11 but Toprak held on at turn 12, firing his Yamaha back through.

Rea tried again at turn 13 but ran slightly wide, whilst Razgatlioglu scythed back through, colliding with Rea. The fight continued as Rea had a huge moment at turn one on lap five before getting under Razgatlioglu again at turn 11, whilst race leader Scott Redding ran wide at turn 13, with Rea coming back through to the lead. Then, disaster, as Rea tucked the front at turn 15, his Kawasaki ZX-10 RR barrelling through the gravel.

At the front, Scott Redding was leading the way until Toprak took back the lead at turn 1 with just less than four laps to go, and whilst Redding continued to try and retaliate, he couldn’t keep Toprak at bay. Razgatlioglu delivered Yamaha a first Portimao win since Marco Melandri in 2011.

Speaking after the race, Razgatlioglu said: “It wasn’t an easy race because Jonny and Scott were very strong. After Jonny’s crash, we are fighting with Scott; we are fighting with both of them, but I am happy, because we win again. Some corners, I wasn’t very strong because I felt some electronic problems but tomorrow, I think we will improve. We will come back again stronger, every race we are improving and also yesterday, I didn’t feel very good whereas now, the bike is much better.”

Talking about the battle with Redding, Razgatlioglu said that his strategy to wait until the closing stages of the race paid dividends: “It wasn’t easy because he is strong. We are fighting again but after I understood that we are together, I decide to wait for the last two laps. In the last two laps, I try my best again and we made it.”

After the crash Jonathan Rea was taken to the medical centre, where he was diagnosed with multiple contusions and a left elbow abrasion. He will be reviewed on Sunday morning prior to Warm-Up. Up until race one, it had been a sparkling weekend for Rea, who said on Friday that he ‘felt like he had his bike back’ and that he could ‘do things on the bike that he’d not been able to do all year’. Topping Friday and Saturday morning practice sessions, Rea was second on the grid after Superpole, but couldn’t convert it in to championship points.

Talking at the end of the day about his crash and the race until that point, Rea commented: “I am relatively OK, just a little bit beaten up because when I crashed and hit the gravel, I started tumbling. Apart from some bumps and bruises, relatively, I am quite fine. I can’t say ifs and buts because I crashed; I know my pace was good but inside the battle, it wasn’t good because every time I had track position, there was a bike on the inside releasing the brake. I couldn’t really make any rhythm. When Scott made the mistake at Turn 13, I thought ‘OK, I have to go’ because if I can’t go on the straight with some advantage, then I’ll be in the battle again. Congratulations to the guys at the front, I felt like I could’ve been there battling because my pace all weekend has been quite strong. I have another chance tomorrow, so we’ll try to do a good job.”

Adding in his media debrief on Saturday and reflecting on the battle with Razgatlioglu, Rea expressed that he’s ready for the challenge, even if Toprak can be without “consideration” when going for an apex: “I don’t want to put s**t on Toprak about how he rides, because he is clearly doing a good job and he’s not even at his limit. However, the guy he’s passing is on their limit with the bike and tyres and the combination of everything.

“I’m ready to fight like that and I’m going to fight like that”

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“I don’t want to complain too much; I’m ready to fight like that and I’m going to fight like that. I can shake his hand after that and not complain, but I’m happy to let the brakes off and use him as a berm. That’s pretty much what he did to me at Turn 13; he committed to the pass on the apex. I’m not going to grumble; rubbing is racing. He can train on his kart track in Turkey, but I grew up motocrossing, and that’s also hard.

“Of course, there’s a line and these are big bikes and you can’t just come from miles away to make a pass because you feel brave in yourself that you can stop at the apex. I don’t know if Scott was complaining a lot but I don’t want to cry about it because I get labelled a cry-baby… I can roll my sleeves up to.”

The fight for third was an ongoing affair throughout the 20-lap encounter with Leon Haslam (Team HRC) starting from third place holding onto that position until around the mid-way point of the race before he dropped positions, with Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) working his way up to third place on lap 12.

There was plenty of action between the six riders in contention for a podium, with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), Haslam and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) all running wide at turn one at various points of the race.

As the race progressed, Bautista was unable to pull out a gap to the chasing pack with Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) chasing Bautista, Baz making the move at turn one before van der Mark and Locatelli, still chasing third, made contact at turn five with Locatelli retiring and van der Mark bringing his bike back to the pits; the incident will be investigated after the race by the FIM WorldSBK stewards. With the pair out of contention for the podium, Baz and Bautista battled for third place with the Spaniard coming out on top. At turn 15 on the final lap, Bautista crashed out of the race with Baz inheriting third place, his first podium since his WorldSBK return.

Loris Baz – P3

“It’s a good holiday! I said I took it like holidays and I just want to thank Team GoEleven and Ducati because they gave me this opportunity and it’s amazing. I had so much fun riding this bike, improving session by session since Jerez. Just wanted to have fun. I was disappointed for the first time this morning; I could not use the Q tyre. It’s such a big difference and I thought it would be tough to fight for the podium. I knew I had the pace yesterday but starting from ninth is never easy. I made my way through. I had a nice fight with Alvaro. I saw he was on the limit with the front, so I just tried to show him I was there. I hope he’s okay because it’s a bad place to crash. So happy. It’s my holidays and it’s the best I’ve ever had!”

Rinaldi finished the race in fourth place after the incredible battle for third place, with Haslam eventually coming home in fifth place after starting from the front row. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) claimed a solid sixth place, just three tenths behind Haslam in fifth place.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) continued his strong rookie campaign with seventh place ahead of Argentinean star Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda) claiming eighth place – his best result of the 2021 campaign. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) battled up for ninth with Christophe Ponsson (Gil Motor Sport-Yamaha) claiming tenth.

Isaac Viñales (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) missed out on the top ten by just over half-a-second but came home in 11th place, just ahead of Italian Samuele Cavalieri (Barni Racing Team); Cavalieri just a second behind Viñales. 2014 Moto2 World Champion Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) scored points on his first WorldSBK race onboard Kawasaki machinery, with Kohta Nozane (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Jonas Folger (Bonovo MGM Racing) rounding out the points.

Loris Cresson (OUTDO TPR Team Pedercini Racing) was the last of the classified riders with the Belgian missing out on a point by just 0.079s. Cresson’s teammate, Lachlan Epis, retired from the race after bringing his bike into the pits, while Gabriele Ruiu (B-Max Racing Team) was also a retirement from the race, along with Rea, Locatelli, van der Mark and Bautista.

WorldSBK Portimao Race One Results

WSBK Championship Standings

WSSP600

The FIM Supersport World Championship race action kicked off on Saturday afternoon at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with a long-awaited return to the top step for Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) over after the Frenchman claimed a hard-fought win in Race 1 for the Motul Portuguese Round, finishing less than half-a-second clear of his nearest rival.

The drama started from the beginning of the 17-lap race with Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) taking to the front of the field at the start of the race before he lost places in the closing stages of the opening lap, with Turkish star Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) briefly taking the lead of the race, before Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) and Cluzel came through.

Aegerter found himself dropped down to fourth place but soon found his way back in the podium places as he passed Öncü for third place. On Lap 6, Öncü found himself bundled down the order into sixth place as Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) came through, while Gonzalez lost the lead of the race and fell down to fifth behind De Rosa and Tuuli.

Aegerter made his move for the lead of the race in Cluzel into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 10 with the Swiss rider looking to add to his already-impressive win tally in his rookie campaign, but just a lap later Aegerter was down in fourth place after losing out to Cluzel, Gonzalez and De Rosa into Turn 1. On Lap 13, Tuuli made his move on Aegerter to demote the Championship leader into fifth, while out in front Gonzalez had re-taken the lead of the race at the expense of Cluzel.

At the start of Lap 14, Tuuli was up into the podium places after a move into Turn 1 as Cluzel made his move onto Gonzalez in the latter stages of Lap 14, with Gonzalez responding despite pressure from Tuuli into Turn 1 on Lap 15. Tuuli dropped back from the podium fight in the closing stages, as did De Rosa, with Cluzel making his move at the start of the final lap before holding in to claim his first victory since San Juan 2019, almost two years later. Such was Cluzel’s pace in the closing stages, the French rider was able to smash the lap record on the final lap of the 17-lap battle as he posted a 1’44.783s.

Gonzalez finished in second place ahead of Aegerter in third; the Swiss rider backing out of a move on Gonzalez in the closing stages of the race to extend his Championship lead over Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team). De Rosa claimed fourth place ahead of Tuuli in fifth, with Odendaal rounding out the top six after closing in on the lead group in the second half of the race.

Aussie teenager Billy van Eerde crossed the line 20th, his best performance since debuting in the class a few weeks ago.

WSSP600 Race 1 Results

WSSP600 Championship Standings

WSSP300

Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) was crowned the 2021 Champion during the Motul Portuguese Round after team-mate Jeffrey Buis retired from the race after contact with Huertas, while French rider Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) claimed his maiden WorldSSP300 victory; the 20th different winner in the class.

As the lights went out, the two riders in Championship contention jumped to the front of the field with Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) holding the lead from pole position despite heavy pressure from Jeffrey Buis. As the third lap of the race got underway, Huertas had managed to battle his way in front after losing out, before Buis found himself shuffled down the order as Huertas re-took the lead of the race.

Buis lost out in terms of the lead group and had to battle to make sure he could re-join the group fighting for victory and he was able to do so, finding himself battling again with his teammate on Lap 7 of 13, taking the lead on Lap 8 of the race. As the ninth lap started, Buis attempted an overtake on Huertas into the Turn 3 hairpin with the Dutchman retiring from the race, enough to crown Huertas as the 2021 Champion.

The battle for race victory went down to the wire in Portimao and it was Di Sora who would go on to claim victory in Race 1 by just 0.067s, his first victory in WorldSSP300 and also the first victory for France in the class, with Huertas finishing second place after Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) was demoted one place for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Okaya’s podium means he claimed his third podium of 2021 and the fifth of his career.

Turkish star Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing) was in fourth place after battling his way up the grid to finish inside the top four, ahead of the returning Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) in fifth place; Booth-Amos had missed the Spanish Round at Jerez due to an injury sustained in Catalunya. Rookie Dirk Geiger (Fusport – RT Motorsports by SKM – Kawasaki) claimed sixth place after a strong result for the German rider, finishing 0.005s clear of Iñigo Iglesias (SMW Racing).

Young Aussie Harry Khouri crossed the line in 24th place.

WSSP300 Race 1 Results

WSSP300 Championship Standings

Motul Spanish WorldSBK Round schedule

2021 WorldSBK Calendar