WorldSBK Aragon results, Race 2 - Restoration

WorldSBK heads to Aragon this weekend for the 10th round of 2023. This page will be updated with WorldSBK Aragon results through the weekend.

Overview

Race 2 - Bautista dominant again as technical problem costs Locatelli

Superpole Race - Bautista triumphs in epic three-way victory scrap

Race 1 - Rinaldi picks up Bautista's scraps for first win in two years

Superpole - Rea breaks lap record for Aragon pole

Combined Practice - Bautista ends day one in Aragon fastest as Razgatlioglu struggles

Race 2

Following his Superpole Race victory, Alvaro Bautista completed a Sunday double at the Aragon round of WorldSBK, with his Race 2 victory coming in more comfortable fashion than that in the 10-lapper.

Just as in Race 1 on Saturday, it was Alvaro Bautista who made the holeshot, but Rea got to the front in turn four. Somehow, Andrea Locatelli managed to get himself up to second place despite almost firing himself to the moon in turn six. That meant Bautista dropped to third, while Toprak Razgatlioglu was fourth at the end of the first lap.

Locatelli briefly got to the front at the beginning of lap two, but Bautista took the lead before the end of the first sector of that lap.

By the end of lap three, Rea was back to fourth, Bautista was clearing off, and Locatelli was holding Razgatlioglu at bay in the battle for second. 

Locatelli stayed in front of Razgatlioglu long enough for Michael Ruben Rinaldi to catch the two of them, and long enough for the Italian’s engine to expire. Somehow, there was no fluid leaking from Locatelli’s bike, although the smoke was enough to bring a significant amount of understandable caution to Rinaldi, which ultimately let Razgatlioglu off the hook to the tune of 1.5 seconds.

Locatelli’s expiry saw the end of any meaningful battles at the front. Bautista was already leading by almost five seconds, and he was able to roll off on the final tour to bring the gap down to a relatively slim 4.064 seconds.

That gap was over Toprak Razgatlioglu, who repeated his second place of Saturday’s Race 1, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi rounded out the podium for his second top three of the weekend.

Jonathan Rea was a distant fourth (top Kawasaki) having struggled with rear grip from early on in the race, while Axel Bassani rounded out the top five.

Iker Lecuona (top Honda) completed the top six, ahead of Philipp Oettl (7th), Xavi Vierge (8th), Remy Gardner (9th), and Garrett Gerloff (10th, top BMW) who rounded out the top 10.
 

Full WorldSBK results from Race 2 in Aragon are below.

2023 WorldSBK Aragon Results | Superpole Race

Superpole Race

Following his Race 1 debacle, Alvaro Bautista was out on Sunday morning in Aragon to right the wrongs of Saturday. That, he did, winning out in a three-way, last-lap battle.

It was Jonathan Rea who made the holeshot from pole position, ahead of Alvaro Bautista, and he made an early break. Rea’s pace in the first three sectors of the lap was incredible, such that even the straight line speed advantage Bautista and Ducati enjoy in the straights could not overcome the #65.

The first half of the race saw Rea un-headed, and the first three - the aforementioned two plus Toprak Razgatlioglu - pull away from those behind. 

As the race swapped from its first half to the second, Bautista’s usual drive grip superiority began to tell a little more. It was, therefore, a surprise to see the reigning champion’s initial movement see him go backwards. He tried to pass Rea in turn one, but ended up losing out to Razgatlioglu in turn three.

Somehow, Rea stayed ahead until the final lap, and it was now that Bautista struck back on Razgatlioglu in turn four. On the back straight, Bautista hit the lead and, by making the final corner perfectly, he secured the victory in one of the most intense battles of the 2023 season.

Rea, on the other hand, had to - frustratingly for him - make do with second place despite leading almost uninterruptedly from the first corner. Razgatlioglu, who chose a softer tyre than his two rivals, took third place.

Andrea Locatelli was fourth, ahead of yesterday’s winner Michael Ruben Rinaldi (5th), Iker Lecuona (6th, top Honda), Xavi Vierge (7th), Philipp Oettl (8th), and Garrett Gerloff (top BMW) who took the final point in ninth. Remy Gardner rounded out the top 10.

Full WorldSBK results from the Superpole Race in Aragon are below.

2023 WorldSBK Aragon Results | Superpole Race

Race 1

Alvaro Bautista may have been beaten by Jonathan Rea to pole position in Aragon, but his determination to take victory in Race 1 led only to a crash. What seemed a guaranteed victory for Bautista instead went to the other factory Ducati of Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

It was not a surprise to see Alvaro Bautista holeshot the race, and it was similarly unsurprising to see him clear off in front, but that lasted only six laps, because Bautista crashed at turn eight.

Bautista’s crash seemed initially to ensure a two-way fight for the win between Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu. However, Michael Ruben Rinaldi sniffed an opportunity. He was one second behind Razgatlioglu when Bautista crashed, but he caught the leaders with eight laps to go. Four laps later, Rinaldi led.

Razgatlioglu passed Rea almost immediately after Rinaldi, but he could not challenge the #21, who eventually took victory by over one second, and for the first time since 2021.

Razgatlioglu secured second place and 20 important points for the championship, while Rea took third and completed the podium.

Andrea Locatelli was fourth, ahead of Danilo Petrucci, who made up 20 places to go from 25th on the grid to fifth at the end. Philipp Oettl completed the top six for his best WorldSBK result.

Remy Gardner was seventh, ahead of Garrett Gerloff (8th, top BMW), while Axel Bassani was ninth, and Iker Lecuona (10th, top Honda) rounded out the top 10.

Alvaro Bautista remounted after his crash early on, and was on to score points, before he crashed at the penultimate corner on the final lap while trying to pass Loris Baz.

Full WorldSBK results from Race 1 in Aragon are below.

2023 WorldSBK Aragon Results | Race 1

Superpole

The WorldSBK weekend in Aragon had been dominated by Ducati until Superpole. But Superpole saw a change in that trend, as Jonathan Rea set a new lap record to take pole position.

It was not a perfect session for Ducati. Danilo Petrucci had been third-fastest in FP2, and fastest overall in FP3, but he crashed on his first flying lap, did not set a lap, and qualified last. 

Alvaro Bautista should be far superior to his rivals in the race, with the combination of better straight line speed and better edge grip perfectly suiting the MotorLand layout, but he could only manage second in Superpole.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi had also shown decent speed in practice, but was only fifth in Superpole, and Axel Bassani could qualify no better than seventh.

Jonathan Rea’s pole position lap of 1:47.973 was not only a lap record but also the first ever Superbike lap of Aragon in the 1:47s. On a circuit which suits the Ducati so well, to 0.351 seconds faster than Bautista was entirely unexpected.

Toprak Razgatlioglu has struggled all weekend in the long corners of Aragon that the Ducati and Bautista enjoy so much. He has no edge grip, so can’t turn, which means he enters the straight too slow, which costs him even more time in the straights compared to the bikes which are more powerful than the Yamaha. A third place in Superpole was therefore a decent result for the 2021 World Champion, but a queue of at least two Ducatis is likely to form behind him in search of the podium.

Assuming Bautista makes good starts in Race 1 and the Superpole Race and clears off at the front, the aforementioned Rinaldi will be expecting to lead that Ducati charge to the podium from fifth on the grid, between Andrea Locatelli (4th) and Iker Lecuona (7th, top Honda) on the second row.

Axel Bassani will fancy himself again Rinaldi, but he will start from seventh, ahead of Philipp Oettl (8th) and Remy Gardner (9th) on row three.

Garrett Gerloff completed the qualifying top 10, and was the fastest BMW. Having taken pole position in Magny-Cours, it has been quite the fall for Gerloff in only two weeks and, with the other BMWs behind him, it indicates the M1000RR is struggling, like the Yamaha, with grip. Loris Baz (11th) and Xavi Vierge (12th) join Gerloff on the fourth row.

Full WorldSBK results from Superpole in Aragon are below.

2023 WorldSBK Aragon Results | Superpole

Combined Practice

Full WorldSBK results from combined practice on Friday in Aragon are below.

2023 WorldSBK Aragon Results | Combined Practice

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