Catalunya WorldSBK Race 1 Results: Bautista strolls to victory

Results from Race 1, round eight of the 2022 WorldSBK Championship at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya
Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya

Alvaro Bautista takes a dominant WorldSBK race one victory in Catalunya as Toprak Razgatlioglu faded badly from second place to fifth. 

Starting from pole position for the first time in his Superbike career, Iker Lecuona made a poor start as he was pushed down to fifth by turn one.

Making equally good starts were the top two in the championship as Bautista went from fifth to first by turn one, while Razgatlioglu went from eighth to seventh.

Going in the wrong direction, Jonathan Rea dropped from P3 down to seventh before a mistake from Michael Ruben Rinaldi on lap four allowed Lecuona, Axel Bassani and Rea through. 

Like Rinaldi, Bassani made an identical mistake at turn one as he ran wide and through the escape road, however, the Italian navigated it much quicker than Rinaldi and thus managed to stay ahead of Rea. 

After resisting early pressure from Razgatlioglu, Bautista began to open the gap to the Yamaha rider as Alex Lowes fell into the clutches of Lecuona in the battle for third.

Continuing to struggle in sixth, Rea then came under pressure from Andrea Locatelli before a mistake at turn ten resulted in the Yamaha rider losing seventh to Garrett Gerloff

Aware that every point matters for his championship challenge, Rea began a charge on Bassani for fifth - a first move came at turn 10 but Bassani got back through as the six-time world champion ran slightly wide. 

2022 World Superbike Barcelona, Spain - Race Results (1)
PosRiderNatTeamTime
1Alvaro BautistaSPAAruba.It Racing Ducati21 Laps
2Jonathan ReaGBRKawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK+8.665s
3Garrett GerloffUSAGRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team+9.289s
4Michael RinaldiITAAruba.It Racing Ducati+10.783s
5Toprak RazgatliogluTURPATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK+13.568s
6Iker LecuonaSPATeam HRC WorldSBK+13.655s
7Alex LowesGBRKawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK+14.013s
8Axel BassaniITAMotocorsa Ducati+14.839s
9Andrea LocatelliITAPATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK+29.775s
10Eugene LavertyIRLBonovo Action BMW+30.094s
11Loris BazFRABonovo Action BMW+30.390s
12Xavi ViergeSPATeam HRC WorldSBK+31.755s
13Roberto TamburiniITAMotoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team+33.055s
14Lucas MahiasFRAPuccetti Kawasaki+35.962s
15Christophe PonssonFRAGil Motor Sport Yamaha+37.498s
16Kohta NozaneJPNGRT Yamaha+45.108s
17Oscar GutierrezSPAPedercini Kawasaki+46.958s
18Leandro MercadoARGMIE Honda Racing+55.315s
19Oliver KonigCZEOrelac Racing Kawasaki+57.534s
20Michael Van Der MarkSPABMW Motorrad WorldSBK TeamDNF
21Philipp OettlGERGoEleven DucatiDNF
22Scott ReddingGBRBMW Motorrad WorldSBK TeamDNF
23Luca BernardiSMBarni Spark Ducati TeamDNF

A mirror-image of that overtake took place on the following lap as Bassani again retained the position. But after getting great drive off the final corner, Rea managed to complete the move at turn one. 

With Rea now in fifth, the Kawasaki rider slowly started to catch Lecuona and Lowes, although no move was imminent. 

That soon changed with seven laps to go as Rea made his way through on Lowes for fourth [turn one]. 

Jonathan Rea, Catalunya WorldSBK, 23 September
Jonathan Rea, Catalunya WorldSBK, 23 September

As Rea made it back-to-back overtakes with a move on Lecuona with six to go, Razgatlioglu, who was clearly struggling after using too much of his rear tyre to go with Bautista early on, then started dropping into the clutches of Rea. 

Just behind Rea, Gerloff produced a brilliant double overtake on Lowes and Lecuona heading into turn one to pick up fourth place.

A mistake from Razgatlioglu then allowed Rea to come through with just four laps remaining. It then got worse for Razgatlioglu as Gerloff pounced on the struggling Turk at turn one, impressively out-braking the reigning world champion.

WorldSBK Catalunya Records

Lap Record - Tom Sykes GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team 1:40.408s

2021 Race Winners

Race 1 - Scott Redding GBR Aruba.it Ducati 

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 

Race 2 - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati 

Scott Redding’s impressive run of form in recent rounds took a big hit after the Brit crashed out at turn one early on.

Michael Van Der Mark, Philipp Oettl and Luca Bernardi were the other riders who failed to finish. 

2022 WorldSBK Catalunya Weekend Schedule

Saturday

Free Practice 3 - 08:00-08:30

Superpole - 10:10-10:25

Race One 13:00

Sunday 

Warm-up - 08:00-08:15

Superpole Race - 10:00

Race Two - 13:00

Read More