Bautista bellissimo in treacherous WorldSBK Race One at P.I.

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round One – Phillip Island

World Superbike Race One

The opening 22-lap race of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship got underway at 1615 on Saturday afternoon at Phillip Island.

The late start due to some delays in what had been a crazy World Supersport race just prior to the 1000 cc machines taking to the track.

Ahead of the sighting lap a good downpour had soaked the Phillip Island circuit and at that stage of proceedings it looked as though the only viable tyre choice would be full wets.

The field all got away cleanly and it was a wiggling Bautista that led the field through turn one for the first time ahead of Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu, our regular triumvirate of front runners in recent seasons.

Alex Lowes was enjoying the wet conditions to be immediately hassling Razgatlioglu for third place.

Jonathan Rea slotted into the lead at turn ten late on lap one to lead the field across the stripe for the first time and he maintained that lead all the way down the chute and around Southern Loop.

Further back Lowes had got the better of Razgatlioglu to move up to third place. Andrea Locatelli was fifth, Dominique Aegerter sixth, Alex Bassani seventh and Remy Gardner eighth.  Michael van der Mark was ninth but then went down at turn eight which promoted Oettl into that position and Petrucci in to tenth.

Jonathan Rea started to stretch away from Bautista over the next few laps. A tenth here and there to give himself a little breathing space. Further back Razgatlioglu had come back at Alex Lowes to push himself back up to third place. Andrea Locatelli was fifth, Bassani sixth. Tom Sykes retired with a technical problem in lap five.

Iker Lecuona had steadily worked his way forward and was up to seventh place ahead of Aegerter by lap six. Danilo Petrucci then pushed Aegerter further back to eighth on the next lap.

Scott Redding was also moving up the order, passing Gardner, Vierge and then Aegerter to move up to ninth place on lap eigth.

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Up front Bautista had started to reel in Jonathan Rea. By lap nine the Spaniard was right on his tail but then had a few little moments which saw him retreat once again and bide his time.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was now the fastest man on track but had more than two-seconds to make up in order to get in touch with the leading duo.

Bautista took the lead through turn three in what was a brave move and kept the Kawasaki man at bay through turn four and Siberia. Rea right on his tail through Hayshed but ultimately the Ducati man started to pull away late on that lap and start stretching away.

The race had only just broached the halfway mark though so a lot could happen from here.  A lot of riders were now really struggling with rear grip as their wets were now well passed their use-by date.

Further back Scott Redding had his elbows out and was making progress. As the race entered its second half the Brit took seventh place from Lecuona. He was just under 13-seconds behind the race leaders with 10 laps still to run.

Bautista had a big moment through Hayshed which allowed Jonathan Rea to close right onto his pipe once again. Both riders were pushing hard in the treacherous conditions and this was going to be no cakewalk to victory. Every turn had its risks and it was a fine line they treaded and threaded as they negotiated the 12 turns of the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

At two-thirds race distance Bautista led Rea by just under a second. Razgatlioglu was four-seconds further back in third place but with four-seconds over fourth placed Andrea Locatelli. Alex Lowes was fifth but then fell at turn two and went out of the race. Lowes demise promoted Bassani into fifth and Redding into sixth.  Redding the only rider in that top six to be on the SCR2 rear, those in front of him all on SCR1.

With five laps to run Bautista now had two-seconds on Rea but both that pair were still pushing hard and having moments here and there. Razgatlioglu was a further four-seconds behind in third place but with almost six-seconds on his Pata Yamaha team-mate Andrea Locatelli.

Alex Bassani was on his own in fifth but a little further back Lecuona had come back at Redding and took sixth place from the Brit. A couple of laps later both Petrucci and Vierge got the better of Redding to push him further back to ninth.

Bautista the victor. The Spaniard certainly had to work for it and was put under plenty of pressure from Jonathan Rea but kicks his championship defence off in fine style. Hot conditions, cold conditions, wet conditions, he is the man to beat…

However after the race it was revealed that Rea’s quick-shifter had become inoperable during the race and he had to switch back to old style riding with the clutch. That’s actually a big deal these days as the bikes are not set up to use a conventional clutch during the race and Rea did quite the job to remain competitive.

Toprak Razgatlioglu put the runs on the board when it counted to recover from a difficult start to the weekend to claim third place. New season, still the same riders on the podium…

Andrea Locatelli fourth ahead of Alex Bassani while Iker Lecuona took sixth place for Honda ahead of Danilo Petrucci.

Xavi Vierge and Petrucci clashed on the final lap and while Danilo crossed the line first officials ultimately penalised him one position for ‘irresponsible riding’ which promoted the Honda man to seventh place on the results sheet. That gives HRC 6-7 results from the season opener.

Top BMW was Scott Redding in ninth while Garrett Gerloff rounded out the top ten.

Remy Gardner showed reasonable pace early on but ultimately struggled when the best of his tyres had gone and crossed the line in 12th place behind Philipp Oettl, but in front of team-mate Dominique Aegerter.

World Superbike Race One Results

Phillip Island WorldSBK/ASBK Race Schedule