Catalunya World Superbike Race (1) Results: Rampant Bautista wins again

Results from Race 1, round four of the 2023 World Superbike Championship in Catalunya, Spain.

06 May 2023

Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya 2023

World Superbike champion Alvaro Bautista has won his ninth race out of ten although disaster struck Ducati following a lcash between two of its riders.

Despite a slitgly sluggish launch, Bautista’s straight line speed meant he was able to hold off Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Jonathan Rea on the run to turn one.

The biggest mover was Andrea Locatelli as the factory Yamaha rider came from the fourth row to end lap one in P4, one spot ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Locatelli was demoted to fifth by his teammate as Razgatlioglu began showing his prowess under braking.

Doing his best to stay with Bautista, Rinaldi was within six tenths of his teammate after two laps, however, lap three was a significant one as Bautista then improved his lead to over a second.

A red flag was then deployed on lap four following a crash for PETRONAS MIE Honda rider Eric Granado. The Brazilian went down at turn 11 before being stretchered away by marshals trackside.

Once the incident was cleared, a new race distance of 17 laps was confirmed as Bautista started from pole once again.

Bautista made a much better start this time around as he held onto the lead from Rinaldi and Axel Bassani.

On lap two, Rinaldi and Bassani came to blows as contact was made at turn three. On the racing line, Bassani was instead moved out wide by Rinaldi before more contact was made at turn 10.

This time it resulted in Rinaldi crashing out after Bassani was the rider who initiated contact. The incident was then investigated by race direction before a Long-lap penalty was awarded to Bassani.

Prior to their incident, there was another incident as Scott Redding crashed out at turn ten after running into the rear of Lorenzo Baldassarri's Yamaha.

Bassani, who was over two seconds down on race leader Bautista, took the penalty immediately and subsequently lost out to Rea, Razgatlioglu and Locatelli.

While Bassani attempted to make a comeback to podium places by overtaking Locatelli for P4, Bautista was in a league of his own as he stretched his lead to over six seconds.

Struggling behind Iker Lecuona, Alex Lowes suffered a crash with seven laps to go which was his second of the day.

Failing in his bid to close in on Rea and Razgatlioglu, Bassani instead went backwards as Locatelli came back through with 4 laps remaining.

After following Rea all race, Razgatlioglu finally made his move at the start of the final lap and was completely out of shape while doing so.

But the Yamaha rider somehow managed to make the apex at turn one before holding on until the checkered flag.

2023 World Superbike Catalunya, Spain - Race 1 Results
Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	17 Laps
2	Toprak Razgatlioglu	TUR	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+8.864s
3	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+8.927s
4	Andrea Locatelli	ITA	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+13.992s
5	Dominique Aegerter	SWI	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+14.206s
6	Iker Lecuona	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+15.809s
7	Axel Bassani	ITA	Motocorsa Ducati	+18.222s
8	Xavi Vierge	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+20.607s
9	Garrett Gerloff	USA	Bonovo Action BMW	+20.841s
10	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	Barni Spark Racing Team	+22.930s
11	Remy Gardner	AUS	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+23.475s
12	Philipp Oettl	GER	GoEleven Ducati	+31.286s
13	Bradley Ray	GBR	Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+31.823s
14	Loris Baz	FRA	Bonovo Action BMW	+32.859s
15	Hafizh Syahrin	MAL	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+40.429s
16	Ivo Lopes	POR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	+46.947s
17	Tom Sykes	GBR	Puccetti Kawasaki	+50.828s
18	Lorenzo Baldassarri	ITA	GMT94 Yamaha	+1 Lap
19	Alex Lowes	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	DNF
20	Isaac Vinales	SPA	TPR by Vinales Racing	DNF
21	Scott Redding	GBR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	DNF
22	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	ITA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	DNF
23	Eric Granado	BRA	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	DNF
24	Oliver Konig	CZE	Orelac Racing Kawasaki	DNS
25	Gabriele Ruiu	ITA	Bmax Racing	DNS