Full Saturday round up from WorldSBK at Catalunya

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Eight – Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

WorldSBK Race One

After missing out on front row starts in the Tissot Superpole session, both Bautista and Razgatlioglu were able to move to the head of the field before Turn 1, with Bautista jumping from fifth to first while Razgatlioglu went from eighth to second. 

In the early stages of the race, Razgatlioglu looked to make a move on Bautista but the Championship leader was able to hold on to claim a relatively pressure-free victory ahead of Rea.

Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) came home third and showed strong pace throughout the race to take the best result of his 2022 campaign and his first podium.

Alvaro Bautista – P1

“I am very very happy with this victory. It was great to win in front of so many fans, my friends, and my family. It’s always a special feeling. However, it was not an easy victory. The key to the race was the tyres. That’s why I tried not to push to the limit in the first laps despite the fact that Toprak was attacking with conviction. Tomorrow in the Superpole Race I won’t have to worry about tyre management”.

Jonathan Rea – P2

“That was a strategy race for sure. We know this circuit is really tough for managing the tyre. Rinaldi released the brake in Turn One and unfortunately he hit me, then I touched Locatelli and he also went wide. I ended up in seventh place and I thought – again a lot of work to do.

“Step by step I was calm. I realised Toprak and Alvaro were gone, so I was thinking about a podium today. I didn’t go faster, those guys in front just came back to me, so I said to myself ‘a podium is maybe possible, don’t give up!’ Then I saw that Toprak was not going away and I thought maybe second was possible.

“There is a point when you’re riding like this when it’s hard because you are not pushing but conserving the tyre. So it is just exercising that kind of patience. My bike set-up was good today. I have to thank the crew – not just my crew but Alex’s crew as well – because they helped to completely change my bike set-up before the race, just after Superpole. We found a good positive direction with the front of the bike.”

Garrett Gerloff – P3

“It feels amazing to be back on the podium, I’m really happy for myself and for the team. I wanted to give them a good result, they deserve it. The start was nothing special, but I tried to be gentle on the tyres and it paid off in the latter stages of the race.

“The rear tyre was still toasted at the end, but I was able to make some good overtakes. Now we’re focused on tomorrow, where we’ll just continue what we’ve been doing so far this weekend.”

As the race progressed, Razgatlioglu lost ground to Bautista before losing out to the riders behind him, with Razgatlioglu being passed by Rea, Gerloff and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) to claim fifth place at the end of the race, finishing 2.785s seconds behind Rinaldi despite the Italian only passing him at Turn 10 on the penultimate lap of the race.

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The winning margin of 8.665s meant Bautista took his 25th win in WorldSBK, only one behind 2021 Champion Razgatlioglu, and his ninth win of the season with his Championship lead growing from 30 points to 44.

Rinaldi finished in fourth place, just 1.494s away from Gerloff in third place despite starting from tenth and running wide in the early stages of the race. 

Michael Rinaldi – P4

“It was a special day. I crashed on the first lap of the Superpole Race and thanks to the hard work of my team I was able to get back on track and start tenth on the grid. It was a great race though, despite the mistake that forced me to make a comeback. I managed the tyre well and I was able to make up positions in the second half of the race. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to get on the podium. I’ll try again tomorrow”.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – P5

“In the race, just I am feeling the bike is much better after qualifying because in qualifying I think the big problem is rear grip. I had a really good start, and try to follow Bautista but the end was not fantastic because five position finish. Very good lap times at the start, 1’41.9 and 42 low and I think I use a little bit more the rear tyre. Last 10 laps I am feeling big drop in grip but I keep fighting for the good position. For me, P5 is not enough and tomorrow we try to improve. My plan is to start more calm because important to keep the rear tyre for last laps.”

Razgatlioglu was fifth after the reigning Champion had to fend off a late charge from Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). Lecuona started from pole position but opted to use Pirelli’s SC0 tyre, inspired by Rinaldi’s victory in Race 2 in 2021. Lecuona dropped down at the start of the race but was able to stabilise his pace to finish in sixth place.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was another who initially fought in the lead group but dropped down in the latter stages as he claimed seventh place, ahead of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). 

Iker Lecuona – P6

“Of course, being able to set pole is a great pleasure for me, for the team and also for Honda. Marc did it in Japan today, and we have done it here and it’s clearly important to show everyone we have this speed and this potential, that all the Hondas have it in fact. But we need time to get there, and that’s the frustrating part for me, the reason why I cannot be happy with today’s final outcome.

“We started the weekend very strong, and I felt good in the free practices. I was able to ride fast and always alone. I didn’t expect to be on pole in qualifying to be honest, but I followed Johnny and that reference definitely helped me, but I also had the speed to do it. So, I felt confident we could do well in race 1.

“Everything was going well in the first half of the race – we went with a hard spec and I was able to manage the tyres, the throttle and the electronics as planned, and stay in the podium fight. A real podium fight, not one that had to do with crashes for other riders or whatever.

“But in the final part of the race, some grip problem that we experienced on other occasions emerged again and I couldn’t continue the fight. This is the worse feeling for me, to know we have the potential but are unable to put it to good use and fight. We will get there, I know that, but for now I feel frustrated. Let’s see if tomorrow can be better”.

Alex Lowes – P7

“Honestly, I am disappointed in the race because I felt good on the bike. In Superpole we made a change and the set up was good on fresh tyres. I was expecting maybe to struggle with the front tyre in the race but I made a good start and was in the leading group.

“The front tyre was quite good so in the last five laps, after Johnny passed me, I tried to sit in there. I could see we were catching Toprak, so I was still hoping and feeling good for a podium.

“In the last five laps I had big problems with my rear tyre grip. We will now try to understand why it was so bad and work again for tomorrow. I fell really good on the bike at this track so it is a shame to finish seventh, because we are riding better than that. But, we have two more chances tomorrow.”

Andrea Locatelli – P9

“Superpole was a really good lap time and we start P4 which was really good position to start from. The start itself was not bad in the race, but Johnny pushed me out a little bit in the first corner so I lost some positions and was in behind.

“I tried to recover and tried to close the gap immediately – I was in the group with Garrett, Johnny, Lecuona and Alex, the main riders to fight for the podium. But, the feeling was strange in the exit of the right corners, I was feeling more spinning compared to yesterday and this morning.

“From Lap 10, it felt like a big disaster because I could not manage this, I tried everything but it was not possible. We need to understand what we need to do to improve, continue working on the bike and try again. I am a bit disappointed because I felt we could have fought for the podium today. We lost this opportunity but we have two more chances tomorrow.”

Bassani, like Lecuona, used the SC0 tyre and had a strong start to the race but lost out as the race progressed, eventually finishing in eighth place. He was 15 seconds clear of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) at the end of the race, with Locatelli losing out in a battle with Rinaldi in the latter stages of the race. 

Irish rider Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) was the lead BMW rider in the race as he took tenth place; his first top-ten finish since the opening race of the season, as he finished just three tenths behind Locatelli.

There were three retirements in the opening stages of the 20-lap race, with Phillip Oettl (Team Goeleven) retiring after suffering a technical issue on the opening lap. On the same lap, Luca Bernardi (BARNI Spark Racing Team) crashed at Turn 3 after contact with Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with Bernardi re-joining the race, before bringing his bike back to the pits, and van der Mark continuing. The incident will be investigated by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards after the race. 

On Lap 3, Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) crashed at Lap 1 which put the British rider out of the race. Van der Mark retired from the race after a technical issue on Lap 9 of 20.

WorldSBK Race One Results

WorldSBK Superpole/Qualifying

First pole position in the FIM World Superbike Championship for Iker Lecuona who also gives Team HRC their first pole of the season, six years after the last one earned in 2016 with Michael Van Der Mark in Thailand.

Behind the Spaniard were Kawasaki riders Alex Lowes, second, and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), third, whereas Italian Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took the fourth spot on the grid.

WorldSBK Superpole/Qualifying Times

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP Race One

A shortened Race 1 for the FIM Supersport World Championship provided no less drama as Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) claimed his first win at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya after an early three-way fight in the opening stages of the 12-lap race. 

With that Aegerter extended his Championship lead as title rival Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) finished in second place.

The race was red flagged just as Lap 2 of the original race started to allow recovery of Peter Sebestyen’s (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) bike after he crashed at Turn 1 on the opening lap. 

Sebestyen was able to walk away from the crash but marshals needed time to clear the bike and fluids, meaning the red flag was deployed. The restarted race was reduced to a distance of 12 laps following the red flag.

On the subsequent start, Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) got away well to move into the lead of the race in the early stages before having to battle with Aegerter, Baldassarri and Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). 

On Lap 7, Baldassarri made his move on Caricasulo at Turn 1 to move into third before, two laps later, passing Oncu into Turn 10. Although he dropped behind both of them shortly after, Baldassarri made his decisive move at Turn 1 on Lap 12 to take second place ahead of Oncu in third and Caricasulo in fourth.

Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) started from P23 on the grid but made great progress to move up to 11th and was engaged in battle with a group of riders in the closing laps. However, Oli was tagged by another rider and slipped to 15th at the flag. 

Oli Bayliss – P15

“Was a good and bad day today, we went out in qualy and got stuck with a few riders making us start a lot further back then I wanted to as I knew I could have been a lot faster. I had a good start in the race and made the positions up quick. I was sitting in 11th and trying to make the move for tenth but on the last lap I got hit by another rider and had to use the slip road finishing p15. We had good pace in the race so I’m excited for another one tomorrow.”

Countryman Ben Currie finished in 26th place.

WorldSSP Race One Results

WorldSSP Superpole/Qualifying Times

WorldSSP Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race One

Drama was never far away in the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship with the race decided at the final corner on the final lap as Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) repeated his race-winning move from 2020 in 2022.

The Japanese rider overtook Championship leader Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) at the final corner to take his second career victory, while Diaz extended his Championship lead to 60 points with the chance to claim the title in Race 2.

In third place was wildcard Julio Garcia Gonzalez (ESP Solutions Motap Racing Team) as he took his WorldSSP300 podium on his debut and became the second-youngest podium finisher in the Championship at 16 years, two months and 14 days; only behind Manuel Gonzalez (15 years, 11 months, four days).

French rider Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Racing WorldSSP300) claimed fourth spot as he battled his way through the field, finishing just ahead of Humberto Maier (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing) in fifth; the Brazilian was involved in an incident at Turn 1 with Daniel Mogeda (Team#109 Kawasaki) while fighting in the lead group, with Mogeda retiring from the race following the crash and the incident placed under investigation by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards; no further action was taken by the stewards.

Italian rider Gabriele Mastroluca (ProGP Racing) finished in sixth place after a strong race and fighting his way through the field.

Indonesian rider Aldi Satya Mahendra (Team BrCorse) took home seventh place on his WorldSSP300 debut as he continues to stand in for Indy Offer, with Mahendra only 0.002s away from Mastroluca in sixth place.

Victor Steeman (MTM Kawasaki) started from pole position after a blistering lap time in the Tissot Superpole session but had to serve a double Long Lap Penalty for slow riding in FP2. He was able to battle his way back to the lead group but lost ground in the final lap to finishing in eighth place; Steeman is 62 points behind Diaz in the Championship battle.

Bruno Ieraci (Prodina Racing) claimed ninth spot despite a back of the grid start for slow riding in FP1, ahead of Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse) who rounded out the top ten; Gennai had been fighting for the podium places throughout the race.

Two riders went down on the final lap of the race with Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) crashing at Turn 12 and Harry Khouri (Fusport-RT Motorsports by SKM-Kawasaki) at Turn 13. Iglesias had to serve a Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible in FP2 but was able to fight back to the lead group, while Khouri was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash.

WorldSSP300 Race One Results

WorldSSP300 Superpole/Qualifying Times

WorldSSP300 Championship Points

Catalunya WorldSBK Time Schedule
AEST

2022 WorldSBK Calendar