WorldSBK Donington Park Race 2 Results | Rea fall gifts Razgatlioglu win & lead

Toprak Razgatlioglu has moved into the 2021 WorldSBK Championship lead for the first time this season after Jonathan Rea threw away a potential win in the final race of the weekend at Donington Park with a costly crash.

In a rare error from the six-time WorldSBK Champion, Rea was engaged in a fierce duel with Razgatlioglu for victory but having just retaken the lead from his key title rival, the Kawasaki man fell at Coppice on lap 11.

Despite the speed of the accident, Rea was able to remount albeit well at the back, his exit freeing up Razgatlioglu to take his third win in four races and with it the championship lead by two points.

Rea’s exit robbed fans of both a British winner and an entertaining fight out front, the Ulsterman having held the lead initially only to be usurped by Razgatlioglu when the Yamaha man muscled his way through at Coppice on lap four.

Nonetheless, Rea was able to keep up with his rival and despite a near-miss with the back of the Yamaha when he overshot his braking at the Esses on lap six, collected himself enough to retake the lead, again at Coppice, on lap ten.

However, a lap later it was all over for Rea when the front of his Kawasaki ZX-10RR washed out, sending him skating across the gravel trap.

It was all the invitation Razgatlioglu needed to take the reins of the race, managing an advantage he’d hold comfortably to the end of the race to win by three seconds over Garrett Gerloff.

Equalling his best ever finish in WorldSBK, Gerloff made it a Yamaha 1-2 to ensure a positive end to a career-defining week that began with him making his MotoGP debut in Assen.

Fresh from his return to the podium in the Superpole Race, Tom Sykes gave BMW another strong finish in third position, heading off a recovering Scott Redding, the former MotoGP rider forced to fight back from 11th on the grid after his Superpole Race disaster brought about by a wet tyre choice in dry conditions.

Michael van der Mark completed a strong weekend for BMW as a team with fifth place, ahead of Alex Lowes, who like Redding was forced to recover from a lower than expected starting position after falling in the Superpole Race.

Chaz Davies enjoyed his best race of the weekend with a run to seventh place, ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Leon Haslam - who faded from starting fourth but survived a tag with Lucas Mahias - with Alvaro Bautista rounding out the top ten.

Andrea Locatelli ended his weekend in 11th place, with Mahias, Axel Bassani, Tito Rabat and Eugene Laverty rounding out the points’ paying positions. 

Rea crossed the line 20th and last.

2021 WorldSBK Donington Park | Race 2 RESULTS