Another Ducati 1-2 in final WorldSBK bout at Phillip Island

2023 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

Round One – Phillip Island

World Superbike Race Two

Images by RbMotoLens

A track temperature approaching 40-degrees and an ambient of 21-degrees were the conditions confronting riders as they lined up on the grid for the final race of the season opening weekend at Phillip Island. The distance 22-laps, 97.79 kilometres, and almost the entire grid were on the standard SC1 front and SC1-A (A1126) rear, the sole exception being Lorenzo Baldassarri running an SC2 on the front.

It was a Ducati 1-2 through Southern Loop for the first time as Rinaldi chased Bautista while Andrea Locatelli and Toprak Razgatlioglu gave chase.  Fifth was Axel Bassani ahead of Iker Lecuona, Jonathan Rea in seventh and Alex Lowes in eighth.

Remy Gardner was 13th early on but his chances for this race were already annulled thanks to a long lap penalty that he must serve as punishment for colliding with team-mate Dominique Aegerter in the Superpole race.

Andrea Locatelli moved up to third place, Axel Bassani fourth and Jonathan Rea then pushed Razgatlioglu back to sixth on lap three. Locatelli then sneaked way from that group, leaving them to tussle over fourth.

Jonathan Rea took that fourth spot from Bassiani with 18 laps to run, Razgatlioglu then followed him through to further relegate Bassani to sixth. Lowes and Lecuona were also with that group.

Further back there was another battle unfolding for ninth place with Aegerter sneaking past Petrucci, that pair had Oettl and Van der Mark in close company.

Alex Lowes then made some progress, moving past Bassani and Razgatlioglu to claim fifth place right behind his KRT team-mate.

It was a Ducati show up front. Bautista leading Rinaldi by 1.4-seconds with 14 laps to run.  Andrea Locatelli was a further two-seconds back in third place but with two-seconds over fourth placed Jonathan Rea.

Lowes got the better of Rea and the team-mates traded places a couple of times with 13 laps to run. That battle over fourth was intense. Right behind the KRT duo Razgatlioglu, Oettl, Bassani and Lecuona were bashing fairings to stick right with the Kawasaki pair.

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The leading trio were well spread out by half-race distance. Bautista leading Rinaldi by 2.6-seconds, Locatelli a further four-seconds behind in third place. That podium order looked pretty settled unless something untoward should happen to the triumvirate.

Fourth place though was still very much a subject up for discussion though as while Lowes, Rea, Razgatlioglu, Bassani, Oettl and Lecuona were treading on each others toes, Danilo Petrucci and Dominique Aegerter were coming along to join the party!

Lowes and Razgatlioglu then reduced the party number by two as they went down together at turn four. Lowes lost the front on entry and skittled Razgatlioglu.

With five laps to run Bautista led Rinaldi by five-seconds, Locatelli was a further five-seconds back in third. The battle over fourth place was being waged four-seconds behind Locatelli and at this juncture Axel Bassani was holding sway after a big balls move up the inside of Jonathan Rea on the entry to turn one.

With two laps to go Bassani still led that second group and along with Peter Oettl had started to break away. A little further back Lecuona had got the better of Rea to push the KRT man back seventh.

At the flag we had another Ducati 1-2, Bautista crossing the stripe six-seconds over Rinaldi.  Locatelli a further three-seconds back in third.

Axel Bassani won that tussle for fourth with a strong end to the race, Oettl fifth.  That pair breaking away from their pursuers in the final stages.  Lecuona sixth, and Aegerter got Rea on the final lap to push the Northern Irishman back to eighth.

Danilo Petrucci ninth ahead of Xavi Vierge while Remy Gardner just missed out on a top ten despite that long lap penalty. Hold the press…  After the race Xavi Vierge was deemed to have overtaken at turn four under yellow flags so was dropped a position, promoting Gardner to tenth.

Bautista takes a 28-point lead in the championship to Mandalika next weekend. Talk about a flying start…   But if you think conditions can be mixed at Phillip Island, you haven’t been to Indonesia….

World Superbike Race Two Results

World Superbike Championship Points

Phillip Island WorldSBK/ASBK Race Schedule