Aragon WorldSBK/SSP/300 Sunday race reports/results/points/quotes

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Ten – Aragon

WorldSBK Superpole Race

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) went from third to first on the final lap of the Tissot Superpole Race as he bounced back from his mistakes on Saturday. The reigning Champion attacked Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) on the last lap as he led only one corner throughout the race at MotorLand Aragon.

Rea had got the hole-shot for the 10-lap race and kept the lead throughout the first half of proceedings ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK).

At the start of Lap 6, Bautista had his first look at race leader Rea at Turn 1 but the six-time Champion defended under braking. A lap later and Bautista tried the same move, but Rea defended around the outside to give him the inside line for Turn 2. This allowed Rea to retain the lead and Razgatlioglu, using the SCQ tyre, to pass the reigning Champion through Turn 3. The trio remained nose-to-tail, but Bautista put in a stunning last lap to move from third to first, passing Toprak at Turn 5 before overtaking Rea at Turn 16 after the Northern Irishman ran slightly wide at Turn 12.

In the early stages, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was remaining around a second away from the ‘Titanic Trio’ but dropped five-seconds back to claim fourth for the second race in this year’s Aragon Round. He was exactly one second ahead of Race 1 winner Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in fifth while Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) took sixth place. Locatelli, Rinaldi and Lecuona were separated by two seconds at the flag and will make up the second row for this afternoon’s Race 2.

Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) narrowly missed out on a second row start with seventh, finishing 1.568s behind his teammate, with the riders on row three this afternoon separated by just over a second. The #97 was eight tenths clear of Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) who put in another strong performance. He was just 0.356s ahead of Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) as the American secured a third-row start for Race 2, and finishing as the lead BMW rider while Remy Gardner rounded out the top ten.

WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

WorldSBK Race Two

The holeshot on Sunday afternoon belonged to Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) but Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) was the big mover as he stormed into second place behind his future team-mate.

On Lap 2 at Turn 1, ‘Loka’ passed the six-time Champion under braking to move into the lead, albeit briefly as Bautista came through at Turns 4 and 5. Despite the Italian’s best efforts, Bautista started pulling out a gap to claim victory and bounce back from his Saturday disaster.

With Bautista extending his lead over Locatelli, it turned into a three-way fight between Locatelli, Razgatlioglu and Rea although Race 1 winner Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) did close in on the trio. Rea started losing ground to the two Yamahas directly ahead, leaving them to fight for second and third, before Rinaldi overtook Rea at Turn 16 to move into fourth. The Italian was then able to leave Rea in his wake as he closed on the Yamaha duo ahead.

Razgatlioglu got ahead of his team-mate on Lap 15 before Locatelli was forced to bring his bike into the pits after a technical issue with this Yamaha YZF-R1, dropping the Italian out of contention after a strong performance to keep his team-mate behind. This promoted Rinaldi to the third and final podium spot, although he did lose time to Razgatlioglu and was unable to close the gap to the 2021 Champion.

Locatelli received the black flag with orange disc when the problem became apparent but returned his bike to the pitlane. For not respecting the flag when it was first shown earlier in the lap, the FIM Stewards penalised him with a back of the grid start for his next race.

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Bautista’s victory means he is now on 53 wins in WorldSBK and moves into third in the all-time winners’ list, moving ahead of Troy Bayliss.

Locatelli’s technical issue promoted Rea back into fourth place although he was some 14-seconds down on Bautista and seven behind Rinaldi after losing ground after the Italian passed him. Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) salvaged fifth on Sunday. He got off to a good start to gain places and, despite his pace dropping off in the closing stages, Bassani was able to finish just a second behind Rea and almost two-seconds clear of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC). The Honda rider had shown rapid pace all weekend and converted that into a top six finish.

Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven) concluded his Aragon weekend with another top-ten finish as the German finished P7, four tenths clear of Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) in eighth.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was another who had a good weekend as he took ninth, finishing as the second Yamaha rider, while Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) made a late-race move on Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) to claim tenth.  The Dutchman finished four tenths clear of Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in 12th with the Swiss rider fending off Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW).

Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was 14th as he finished four seconds behind Baz. The Brit was in a French sandwich with Florian Marino (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) completing the points-paying positions with 15th. Marino, standing in for the injured Alex Lowes, overtook Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) in the closing stages to secure his first point since San Juan Race 1 2018.

Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) was two-seconds away from the points but he was able to finish six-seconds clear of Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 18th.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) had been making progress from the back of the grid but a technical issue when he was closing in on another strong comeback forced him out of the race.

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Quotes

Alvaro Bautista – 504 points

“I am extremely happy. I want to say it again: I learned a lot from yesterday’s mistake and these are things that help you grow. Even today the feeling with the bike was excellent and it allowed me to push hard in the Superpole Race, putting me in a position to have a great last lap. In Race 2 I stayed focused all the time, first during the nice duel on the first lap, then managing the lead. See you in Portimao”.

Toprak Razgatlıoğlu – 457 points

“In general I am really happy! Friday for me was difficult, but together with my team we made a big improvement and this weekend I had three podiums in Aragon – this is fantastic for me! I was not sure if it was possible. Last race, my teammate Locatelli was very strong – his riding was very good and calm! I saw Alvaro was very strong and impossible to follow, so I just follow my teammate to try to save the tyre and wait for the last laps to start to fight. Then I saw Rinaldi coming and I know I need to pass for P2 – when I saw the smoke from Loka, immediately I pass him to be safe in this position. Loka made a big improvement, it’s bad luck for him to not finish the race – maybe we were fighting in the last laps and on the podium together! Now I am focused on Portimão and the last two rounds, I will try to do my best for Yamaha!”

Jonathan Rea – 328 points

“The bike set-up wasn’t so much different today so we have to analyse what has happened in Race Two. I am just guessing right now but I think with the SCX-A rear tyre maybe we were over the temperature threshold. I think the standard SCX was probably the better choice. If I had to do the race again I would change that. But in these temperatures I also struggled with the front tyre in turning, stability etc. I eventually started to check my pitboard with Bassani behind and tried to keep him at bay. The Superpole race before then was incredible. The bike worked amazingly well. I need to take the positives away from the weekend because it’s no mean feat to just turn up here and be on the podium. I was really disappointed in the Superpole Race because I did everything I could. The amount of time we lost in one small sector is incredible. So, I was disappointed after I did all that good work during what I saw was a good opportunity for us. Race Two was a bit of a curve ball. I didn’t see it coming that we would struggle that badly. But, overall, it’s a been a positive weekend.”

Andrea Locatelli – 275 points

“Honestly, today was probably one of the best races in my life, I just had bad luck suffering a damaged oil radiator with two laps to go, and I could do nothing. It was a strong weekend in the end, we showed a lot of potential and we will see what we can do in Portugal. I feel really confident and I want to say thanks a lot to Yamaha and the team, because we work every weekend very hard and try to push on the bike and with myself. I understood a lot today during the races and I changed my style a bit to find more grip on the rear and we worked around the set up of the bike after the Superpole Race – we found a good solution with a bit of an advantage in the exit of the corner and also under braking. The potential is there, we need to be proud and continue like this!”

Michael Rinaldi – 213 points

“Maybe I could have attacked Toprak too,  if I hadn’t had to slow down not to take risks when Locatelli had that technical problem. But it doesn’t matter because this is still a good result. Maybe I missed something in the Superpole Race but the balance of the weekend is really good. I want to continue having fun like this in the next two rounds”.

Danilo Petrucci – 191 points

“We’ve completed what’s been an unfortunate weekend. My mistake in qualifying came at the worst moment, because this was the race in which we were most competitive. In the Superpole race I wasn’t able to play catch up like I did yesterday. I was managing to do it in race 2, and my goal of fifth place was within reach. Unfortunately we had a technical problem though. I’m really sorry for me and for the team, as they were working so well. We deserved to score a lot more points and will head to Portimao even more determined, luckily we race again already next weekend”.

Xavi Vierge – 132 points

“It has been a solid Sunday after a difficult race on Saturday when we struggled unexpectedly. In this morning’s warm up, I was able to find the feeling we’d had during practice and felt strong and competitive again. The Superpole race was very good for us, possibly the best we’ve had this year, both in terms of the result and my feeling on the bike. I came into contact with another rider soon into the race, and lost ground because of that, but I was feeling really strong and was able to make several passes to finish seventh. The long race was positive enough, not what we are here for of course but the kind of result we can expect and fight for right now. So I’m happy with that and happy with the work we’ve done together in the garage. Now we turn our attention to Portimão, a track that I like and one I’m really looking forward to racing at again.”

Dominique Aegerter – 128 points

“To be honest, I was a little bit disappointed this weekend. The crash we had in Free Practice 3 on Saturday didn’t help us at all, I’m sorry to the team again. In the morning Warm Up we tried to make a change but unfortunately it didn’t work out as much as expected. In the Tissot Superpole Race, we tried the softest compound available and our pace wasn’t too bad, but it wasn’t easy to fight with those around. The same can be said for Race 2, where we tried one more change: we showed decent speed, but once again it was tough to battle and take advantage of our strengths. We still achieved valuable points and we’re confident about being stronger in Portimão. We’ll enjoy just a few days to recover and then we’ll be ready for the next round.”

Remy Gardner – 123 points

“It was a positive weekend, but also a bit frustrating. We felt we had the pace to fight for the Top 5 in the long race, but unfortunately our starting position didn’t help at all. In the Tissot Superpole Race I started very well, but then I got hit by another rider and I had to take the escape road. So, I had to fight back and I got close to the Top 9, just missing out on the last lap. In the final feature race it wasn’t easy to fight in the middle of the group, but I’m still taking away valuable data and points. We’re confident that we’ll be back quicker in just few days in Portimão and we’re aware we have to work on qualifying to build strong races.”

Scott Redding – 115 points

“In general, the weekend was a little bit better for me with the bike than when we were here last year. This was already something. I enjoyed the Superpole race. I was able to fight a little bit for the top ten which was my target this weekend. For race two, I was feeling quite confident that I could achieve a top ten. But immediately after two laps I just did not feel the grip and I was really struggling a lot. In the long corners, I didn’t have the grip to go out of the corners. It was really difficult. It was only on the last laps when the tyre was really worn out when there was a little bit of something coming. I was quite surprised because I was feeling like I could possibly go for the top ten in this race and then it was the complete opposite so I am a little bit unhappy. We need to understand why that happened because yesterday it was a lot better. Overall we come away with the weekend a little bit more calm than in Magny-Cours and now we go on to Portimão.”

Iker Lecuona – 114 points

“Not a bad Sunday at all, I’m happy with it. We expected to be at this level before coming here, because we knew from the recent test here that our pace was good, but we were of course also aware that Toprak and Loca were not at that test, so we had a pretty clear idea of our level. Over the weekend I focused on my race pace, lapping alone as much as possible, and I think we did a very good job in terms of preparing for the races. It was a pity about that jump start yesterday of course, so today I took particular care not to do the same thing again. In today’s races, I was easily fighting in the top ten, part of the second group and with very good feeling on the bike. I only struggled to find my rhythm over maybe the first four or five laps of race 2, but then the pace of the guys ahead dropped while mine remained consistent, so I could catch my team-mate and some of the other riders. I got very close to Bassani but then in the final laps I had a big moment through turn 12 and am not even sure how I managed to avoid going down. When I realised I was still in the race, I chose to settle for sixth which is a solid result, and a very important one for me. Now we have a couple of days to relax and then we’ll see if we can keep the momentum going at Portimão.”

Garrett Gerloff – 107 points

“For sure, I feel that we had a little bit more to offer this weekend. But I have given my best and this was all we could do, unfortunately. I’m decently happy with the Superpole race. I had a good start and was able to get to sixth place but then I just struggled to stay in front but luckily we finished ninth so I moved up one position on the grid for race two. In that race I struggled so much with a lot of things on the bike right from the beginning. In the first part of the race I just went backwards. Then once everybody started losing grip I was able to maintain similar times and I made some progress but I did not feel as good as I was hoping. I did the best I could. I want more than top ten, for sure, but now I am looking forward to going to Portimão. I like that track very much, and it’s good that it is a back to back weekend so we can carry some momentum into the next round.”

Loris Baz – 57 points

“It was just one of those days where everything goes wrong. Saturday night we decided to change a lot on the set-up and to try it in warm up. Unfortunately we then had technical issues but the guys did a great job to get the bike ready again for race two. We then had a different set-up, and it’s not ideal when you have to try a kind of a completely different bike in the race. I think there were some positives and negatives. I had the same issue here as at Magny-Cours with my tyre dropping much earlier than others and when I was fighting for P12, I made a bit of a stupid mistake in the last turn, something I have never done in my whole life so I want to apologize to the guys for that. I just tried to close the door to Domi but then I looked at the wrong braking line for the reference and I braked 50 metres later at 300 km/h. That was not ideal. So I ended up in P13 but we were fighting for better places. Overall, there’s not much to say but thanks to the guys for their pretty impressive job today getting the bike ready again. I now hope that the feeling will be better at Portimão.”

Michael van der Mark – 31 points

“This morning, we made a change to the bike and I felt comfortable with it. I was quite consistent in the warm-up. In the Superpole race, we tried the SCQ tyre because we had nothing to lose and honestly, I felt good but I just couldn’t really overtake people in front of me and I was missing some confidence to attack so I am not really happy with my Superpole race. But in race two, I had a really good start and a good pace right from the beginning. I could stay with a couple of guys and I was happy with the bike. After a couple of laps I started to struggle at the entries but the pace was still okay. Unfortunately I struggled more in the end and I got passed. But anyway, we made some good progress in race two and I start to feel better and better on the race distances so I am quite happy that.”

Team Managers

Paul Denning – Pata Yamaha Team Principal

“The first thing is to reiterate what a great job the team and the engineers did between Friday evening and Saturday morning, to set up what became the most competitive races at Aragon that we’ve ever done. With a lap and a half left of the Superpole Race, a lot of the guys and I thought that Toprak was going to win – but just the way that things rolled out, that thrilling race ended with a super close third position, while Loka proved his credentials here at Aragon with a highly competitive fourth. Race 2 in hotter temperatures than yesterday saw the R1 WorldSBK again working very well. In particular, Loka showed new levels of racing spirit and aggression to get to the front and hold Toprak at bay for 15 of 18 laps. Such bad luck to suffer the damaged oil radiator, but there are so many positives for him to take from his performance. For Toprak, we didn’t expect to take 10 points out of Bautista here at Aragon but that’s what happened! He rode three very clever races and both riders give us increased motivation to keep fighting again in Portimão next week.”

Marc Bongers – BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director

“After the positive results of late, particularly courtesy of Garrett at Magny-Cours, we arrived here with plenty of momentum. We were also able to confirm a number of changes to the bike. However, it was not our most lucky weekend. The initial situation was not ideal for the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team. Scott arrived on Thursday with an injury which he had picked up between race weekends. Respect to him for carrying on through the pain. It did not look as though he was going to be able to continue after the first free practice session. We hope he now recovers quickly. Michael is still working on getting fit. He had an outstanding start in race two which saw him climb as high as seventh, and then had a good battle with the two Hondas. It was very pleasing to see him having fun in the race again. For the Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, the weekend began with an extremely strong FP2 from Garrett. However, we did not then make the best changes to the bike. He also struggled at the start of the race and had to battle back from towards the rear of the field multiple times. I am confident that he had the pace to finish in the top six. He was consistently in the top ten, but we were not where we should have been with him. Loris unfortunately had a technical issue and was unable to compete in the Superpole race. We were able to solve the problem for race two and he put it behind him and rode a solid race. We now move on to Portimão, a circuit that should generally suit us better than Aragón.”

Giorgio Barbier – Pirelli

“We are filing away the Aragón round in the black, particularly in terms of our standard tyres, but not only. In both WorldSBK and WorldSSP, the super soft SCX was undoubtedly the most used tyre in the race – in the case of Superbike, paired with the standard SC1. This is positive because we once again received confirmation that ours is an extremely solid and versatile range, capable of ensuring outstanding performance with different bikes and on different circuits. On the other hand, this is precisely why these products are standard, which means that they are available for purchase by riders all over the world. Nevertheless, we cannot overlook the fact that in the Superpole Race, the three riders who finished on the podium used three different rear options, with the standard SCX, the SCX B0800 development solution, and the SCQ C0004 development tyre, all equally protagonists. And the fact that we are able to offer the riders three solutions which are all valid is certainly a good thing because it lets them choose the one that best matches their riding style and bike setup. Now, in less than one week, we will be headed for the next round in Portugal where we will be the Event Main Sponsor. We’ll see if the world titles are assigned then or if we’ll have to wait for the grand finale in Jerez to see who our 2023 champions are!”

World Superbike Championship Points

WorldSSP Race Two

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) will have to wait to win the 2023 FIM Supersport World Championship title despite victory in Race 2 at MotorLand Aragon. His title rival, Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), finished directly behind him during the Tissot Aragon Round as the pair asserted their supremacy over the rest of the field but the five-point swing in Bulega’s favour meant he was not crowned Champion in Spain.

Bulega got the holeshot when the 15-lap race started and looked to clear off into the distance, setting a new race lap record on lap two as he moved two seconds clear of his rivals before the gap stabilised at just over 2.5 seconds. Behind him, title rival Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) – the only rider who can stop Bulega being crowned Champion – battled his way up to second from fifth place on the grid, although he gained a free position due to Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) being penalised with a back of the grid start for a tyre pressure infringement.

Both Bulega and Manzi were matching each other for pace in the low 1’54s as they kept each other in check with neither taking a huge amount of time out of the other. The pair finished first and second which means the title fight will continue to Portimao next week. The gap between them is 85 points and the Ducati star will be crowned Champion in Race 1 next week if he finishes 75 points or more clear of his rival.

In the mid-stages of the race, Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Team) started closing in on Manzi directly ahead to reduce the gap to just over a second before the Yamaha rider responded to ensure ‘Carica’ stayed more than a second away. By the start of Lap 15, the gap was down to eight-tenths before the red flags came out on the final lap. The race was stopped following a crash for Niki Tuuli (PTR Triumph) at Turn 4. The Finn was taken to the medical centre, and he was conscious following the crash. Tuuli was declared unfit with a left shoulder injury and chest contusion and was transported to Alcaniz Hospital for further assessments.

With the race reaching two-thirds distance, the results were declared at the last completed timing point for each other. Bulega took his 13th win of the season and takes his fourth consecutive win; the first time he’s reached this milestone in WorldSSP. Manzi’s second place gave him his 18th rostrum visit while Caricasulo took his 33rd.

Bahattin Sofuoglu (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) was one of a few riders to use the SC0 rear tyre and he used this to great effect as he claimed fourth, only a second away from Caricasulo. He was only half-a-second clear of teammate Marcel Schroetter in a close-fought battle for fourth. Jorge Navarro (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) equalled his best WorldSSP result to date with sixth, benefitting from a crash for Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) on Lap 10 at the final chicane with dropped the Spaniard out of contention.

Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) was back in the top ten as he finished in seventh ahead of Montella in eighth. The Italian had started from the back of the grid but soon battled his way up to the top ten, before finishing in eighth and only 11 seconds away from Bulega despite having to overtake several riders throughout the whole race. Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) was ninth and four-tenths back from Montella, while Nicholas Spinelli (VFT Racing WEBIKE Yamaha) returned to the top ten for the first time since Imola Race 1 as he rounded out the top ten.

Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) strengthened his grip on the WorldSSP Challenge title with 11th place, missing out on a top ten by just under a second. He was six-seconds clear of Ondrej Vostatek (PTR Triumph) in 12th as the Czech rider fended off a charging John McPhee (D34G Racing) in 13th. The Scot made his first appearance with Ducati machinery this weekend and after crashing out in race one on Saturday made progress to take points on Sunday.

Tom Edwards (Yart-Yamaha WorldSSP Team) was 14th while countryman Luke Power finished 21st.

Luke Power – P21

“It was a positive round at Aragon. Friday started with a not so bad, not so great FP1 but the team ironed out a few things for FP2 and the bike felt much better. We put on a new tyre at the end of the session and unfortunately, I crashed at turn two on my first flying lap which stopped me from going any quicker. The crash destroyed the bike, and I was certainly a bit battered and bruised but was quite lucky to come away without any substantial injuries, but it meant a late night for the team. They did a great job, but the rules mean we were then going straight into Superpole. We made a massive step of over 1.5s which gave me a lot of confidence for race one. I made a good start and was running a good pace with what I believe, could have seen us inside the top twenty, maybe even in the points but we were hit by a technical issue that affected not only me but several riders. This problem, nothing to do with the team, cost us a better result than we achieved and was quite frustrating. The team did another great job of fixing things for Sunday and race two we were able to get our elbows out once again and race with many much more experienced riders. I am disappointed that I messed up a bit on the first lap but I’m proud of the way I bounced back and had good pace and was able to make some good overtakes. I am learning a lot and improving and making progress every time we ride which was the target for my first season at this level. I want to say a big thanks to my team, my sponsors and everyone who is supporting me. See you all in a few days in Portugal.”

WorldSSP Race Two Results

World Supersport Championship Points

WorldSSP300 Race Two

Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki) put one hand on the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship trophy after a brilliant display of riding at MotorLand Aragon.

The Dutchman left it until the last corner to claim victory and extend his Championship lead to 30 points. Buis held on by just 0.021s over Matteo Vannucci (AG Motorsport Italia Yamaha) on a drag race to the line for Race 2 of the Tissot Aragon Round.

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