Race 1 in Aragon was a spectacle and the third day of action on the track also begins with lots of overtaking and duels until the last lap. The Superpole Race on Spanish soil saw a three-way challenge between Alvaro Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Nicolò Bulega for the success of the short race on Sunday morning, with a continuous exchange of positions between the great protagonists of the championship.
An exciting race, with the first three within just 172 thousandths, demonstrating what an intense race it was, with a lot of action packed into ten laps. The winner, however, was Alvaro Bautista, who found the decisive overtaking with a decisive maneuver at chicane 14/15 on Razgatlioglu, and then resisted until the checkered flag with a perfectly executed final corner.
The race began with Bulega’s pole position, who managed to maintain the lead ahead of Iannone, the winner of Race 1. However, if Saturday’s race was characterized by a group race with limited gaps, the race today showed a much more sustained pace right from the start and, not surprisingly, the gaps immediately widened.
Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
Photo credit: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images
Already on the second lap, in fact, both Razgatlioglu and Bautista managed to overtake Iannone, with the Italian thus slipping to fourth place, which he then maintained until the finish line albeit with a gap of almost 5 seconds, precisely because of this difference in I move between the top three and the rest of the group. The protagonists of the championship immediately started to put on a show after three rounds, with Razgatlioglu and Bulega essentially exchanging positions for almost four consecutive passes.
The Turk launched his move with three laps to go, when with a nice change of direction, he surprised Bulega at the chicane, meaning that the Italian couldn’t even have good acceleration at the exit. A decisive overtaking, but it was precisely at that moment that Bautista came out: a few seconds later, the Spaniard overtook his teammate, climbing to second place, but with still one lap to complete.
Exactly as had happened before for Razgatlioglu, Bautista pulled off the decisive overtaking move at chicane 14-15, a stretch where he has been competitive all weekend up to this point. A precise attack, then resisting until the checkered flag: the Spaniard thus put together everything he hadn’t managed in Race 1, where he had shown he had the pace, but had made a few mistakes and too long, having to recover in more opportunities.
Iannone finished fourth who, at the end, resisted Gerloff with the BMW. Danilo Petrucci further behind in sixth position ahead of Iker Lecuona’s Honda, who in turn precedes Van der Mark, Virge and Redding to close the top 10. Alex Lowes crashed in the first laps of the race after a bad movement of the bike exiting the corner 1.
#SBK #Aragon #Superpole #Race #Bautista #beats #Razgatlioglu #sprint