Toprak on top on Saturday at Mandalika – Aegerter WorldSSP Champ

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round 11 – Indonesia

WorldSBK Superpole

Without the SCQ tyre, the softest rubber available was the SCX compound, and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was the rider who made the difference, setting pole by over a second to give the biggest pole margin in 15 years, whilst also setting another new lap record.

WorldSBK Superpole Results

WorldSBK Race One

The 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s penultimate round’s first race has been logged in the history books; the 900th race in the Championship’s history was won by Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), who led from start to finish and never really looked in doubt.

Razgatlioglu sits second in the Championship and with his victory, puts Alvaro Bautista’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) title celebrations on hold until at least tomorrow.

It was a great start from the #1 Yamaha who surged away from his pole position, having set a new lap record in Tissot Superpole and sporting the biggest margin in a WorldSBK Superpole session for 15 years. Teammate Andrea Locatelli shadowed him on the opening lap and made it a Yamaha 1-2 in the early stages, before being passed by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) into Turn 10 on Lap 2. Rea couldn’t go with Razgatlioglu however, with the Turk setting a phenomenal pace. In the low 33s and high 32s at the start of the race, Razgatlioglu settled into a steady rhythm in the mid 1’33s, keeping those behind him at bay.

There was one small blunder on his way to victory, as he had a moment at Turn 7 and had to cut through the fast esses, allowing Alvaro Bautista to close up to 1.1s behind him. However, Razgatlioglu responded instantly with two immediate 1’33.2s, breaking Bautista’s will and heading for his 28th victory with Yamaha, the any rider has achieved with the manufacturer, one more than Noriyuki Haga’s tally.

Speaking about his victory in Indonesia, Razgatlioglu was elated to add Mandalika to the list of circuits he has won at: “Today, I am very happy because we are very strong. In FP3, it was a very good lap time and in Superpole it was an unbelievable lap time! For me, it was important to win the race. It was good for me but not easy for anybody because of the very hot conditions. In the race, I made just one mistake but I didn’t crash.”

Talking about the moment on Lap 13 at Turn 7, the reigning World Champion cast his mind back to Marc Marquez’s massive highside at the corner in MotoGP earlier in the year: “In corner six, I touched the dirty line and in corner seven I closed the gas because the rear was sliding. I felt the sliding after I touched the gas. I went wide because it wasn’t possible to turn. Afterwards, I remember Marc Marquez who had a very big crash here. Always, I am just scared of corner seven because you have just one line and you try to ride this line. You are always thinking this but sometimes make a mistake.”

Alvaro Bautista – P2

“Today, I’m happy with second position. I think it was the maximum we could achieve today. For sure, Toprak is very strong this weekend and the pace was amazing. Sincerely, I didn’t expect this pace for all the race, maybe in the first lap doing ’33s but then slow down, but he could keep the pace. In the end, I didn’t have such a good Superpole because I had some troubles during the session, and I couldn’t make a perfect lap and started from fifth. I had a good start, I gained some positions and then at the beginning, with 60 centimetres of good asphalt, it’s easy to make a mistake. So, I just wanted to be clam at the beginning, try to not make mistakes and to not go out of the good line. Then I started to fight with Andrea and Jonathan. When I was second, Toprak was first with a gap. But even if I had been closer, I don’t think I could have caught him because his pace was really good. I tried to keep focused and do my best. And today the best was finish second so I’m happy for that.”

Jonathan Rea – P3

“The race was better than expected. Yesterday I had a really difficult Friday. I was riding the bike, not in a nice way. I was very aggressive on the bike with the low grip surface. Step by step, my team understood how to make changes, how I needed to ride, and it really helped me. Today I was much closer to fighting with Toprak in the beginning today, and then with Alvaro a little bit. I didn’t expect to be there. A podium was my target. We achieved that. I think we can learn a lot more for tomorrow to try to make changes to the bike, generate some more rear traction. Today I was worried about my front tyre, it didn’t look good but in Parc Fermé it looked so much worse than the others. Everyone is struggling in that area, but rear traction we need to try to improve for tomorrow. We’ll put our head together and try to improve there for tomorrow.”

Andrea Locatelli – P4

“It’s a positive day for me and my team. We worked hard from Friday. Unfortunately, during the race, I lost the opportunity to follow Jonathan and Alvaro because in the end my rhythm was similar to his. We’ll try again tomorrow. I’m really excited to have had my first front row, it’s important for me, for my future, and to believe in myself. In the end, it was a positive day and we’re looking for tomorrow. I think we can finish the weekend in a good way.”

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Michael Ruben Rinaldi – P5

“I started quite well from a bad position. But then in the first laps I couldn’t do my pace. I wasn’t feeling good with the bike. But then after six laps, the bike started to feel really good. So, I started to push, and I overtook the other riders until five laps from the end, I overtook Locatelli and was fourth. But then the last three laps, I had a huge drop of the rear tyre, and I couldn’t turn, go inside of the corner with the angle. For sure, I’m happy about the pace in the middle of the race because it was similar to the top guys. So, I’m happy about that. We need to improve the first five laps and the last four laps. And if we can do that, we can fight for the podium tomorrow.”

Xavi Vierge – P6

“It has been a really difficult day. The track is getting better every session so it’s really difficult to understand the changes on the bike, if we’re going in the right direction or not. But anyway, I think we are doing a good job. We had a solid race. It was important to not make mistakes. We are missing a little bit to try to make a step forward to try to fight for a better position tomorrow.”

WorldSBK Race One Results

WorldSBK Championship Standings

WorldSSP Race One

The FIM Supersport World Championship title was decided in Race 1 at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in a dramatic opening race of the Pirelli Indonesian Round.

Dominque Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was crowned Champion for the second time as he finished in fourth place, while title rival Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) crashed out in the opening stages of the race.

The race was won by Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who ended a five-year win drought in style, while also giving the ‘next generation’ WorldSSP machines their second win of this season.

Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) had been running in the top ten in the early stages of the race but dropped down to 14th at the end of the race.

WorldSSP Race One Results

WorldSSP Championship Standings

Mandalika WSBK Round Schedule

2022 WorldSBK Calendar