Razgatlioglu wins Superpole in France

Toprak Razgatlioglu won Sunday’s WSBK Superpole race at Circuit de Nevers Magny-CoursFrance.

Riders’ championship leader Alvaro Bautista shot up from the second row of the grid to get into second place for the first couple of corners, before sneaking past Jonathan Rea for the race lead midway through the opening lap.

Following the duo were Toprak Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding. But the Brit began to fall off the back of the front three, beginning a lonely stint as fifth place Alex Lowes was not close enough to apply pressure.

With seven laps to go, Razgatlioglu began to put his powerful Yamaha to good use as he recorded the fastest lap. The Turk then took advantage of an error from Rea to move into second place.

Bautista’s mirrors were then full of blue Yamaha as Raztgatlioglu looked for his moment and with five laps to go, he moved into the race lead.

Further down the track, Lowes managed to get past Redding for fourth, while Axel Bassani and Michael Rinaldi followed on their Ducati’s.

There was some drama on the penultimate lap, with Bautista getting too close to Razgatlioglu and collecting his rear wheel, breaking off a piece of his own fairing. While he recovered from the contact mid-corner, Rea pounced to take second. However, the indomitable Bautista got the last laugh as he overtook Rea with three corners to go.

 SUPERPOLE RESULTS:

1 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK 10 Laps

2 Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.It Racing Ducati +1.891s

3 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +2.040s

4 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +3.983s

5 Scott Redding GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team +5.019s

6 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +5.690s

7 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Racing Ducati +6.713s

8 Garrett Gerloff USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team +11.797s

9 Loris Baz FRA Bonovo Action BMW +12.194s

10 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK +13.092s

11 Iker Lecuona SPA Team HRC WorldSBK +13.794s