Nicolo Bulega won the World Superbike Superpole Race Sunday morning at MotorLand Aragon, in Spain. Riding his Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale V4R, the Italian won the 10-lap race by just 0.105 seconds.
2024 WorldSuperbike Champion, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the runner-up on his ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team M1000RR, and Bulega’s teammate, Alvaro Bautista was third.
Danilo Petrucci finished his race 7th on his Barni Spark Racing Ducati Panigale V4R.
American Garrett Gerloff finished 15th on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR.
Toprak Razgatlioglu leads the championship with 503 points, 41 ahead of Nicolo Bulega who has 462 points. Danilo Petrucci is third with 276 points.
ChampionshipStandings WSBL
More from a press release issued by Dorna:
BACK ON TOP: Bulega ends Razgatlioglu’s winning streak with hard-fought Superpole Race victory. The #11 returned to the top step of the rostrum for the first time since Race 2 at Most after a last-corner pass on Razgatlioglu.
It was Nicolo Bulega’s (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) turn to come out on top of a last-lap decider at MotorLand Aragon in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship after beating Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) on the final lap of the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race. The pair changed positions on all but one lap of the race during the Tissot Aragon Round as the #11 claimed his first win since May – which was another final corner overtake on the #1.
Decided at the final corner: Bulega ends Razgatlioglu’s winning run
Bulega got the holeshot as lights went out but Razgatlioglu got ahead at Turn 15 on the opening lap, before defending through Turn 16 but running wide at Turn 17, allowing Bulega back ahead. Razgatlioglu made the same move on Lap 2, before Bulega outbraked him at Turn 1 – but ‘El Turco’ held the outside line into Turn 2. On Lap 3, Bulega utilised Turn 12 and the pair were side-by-side through the following three corners, with the #1 holding the lead out of Turn 17. On Lap 4, Turn 16 was the place the #11 tried to use to move ahead and immediately pulled out a gap over his rival. However, the gap came down and Razgatlioglu forced his way through at Turn 15, although Bulega responded at Turn 16 once again. It was the same story on Lap 6 before the Ducati rider held the lead through Turn 1 at the start of Lap 7, although at Turn 7 Razgatlioglu moved back ahead; before they swapped again at Turn 16. Two laps later, ‘El Turco’ got ahead at Turn 7 again before Bulega re-passed his rival at Turn 12, and they then traded paint at Turn 15 on the same lap. Turn 16 was where they swapped yet again as Bulega took the lead on the final lap, although he ran wide through Turn 7 which allowed the BMW rider to take the lead at Turn 8. Bulega trailed his rival onto the back straight but took advantage of ‘El Turco’ running wide at Turn 16 to claim a hard-fought victory. The only lap they didn’t exchange position on was Lap 8. They will start Race 2 from first and second on the grid, while Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) returned to the podium with P3. It ends Razgatlioglu’s run of victories at 13, equalling his record, while BMW had the 100th race on the podium.
Iannone back at the front: P4 for ‘The Maniac’
Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven) will go from the second row in Race 2 after claiming P4, finishing less than a second away from Bautista ahead. However, ‘The Maniac’ had to fend off Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) who finished in fifth, after running in the podium places, while he’s joined on the second row by twin brother Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team).
Close for the second row: Petrucci just misses out by 0.051s
Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was seventh which means he’ll go from the third row in Race 2, missing out on a top-six finish by just 0.051s. Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) joins Petrucci on the third row with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in ninth, securing him P9 on the grid for Race 2.
Retirements from the Superpole race : three riders don’t finish
There was a Turn 5 collision on the opening lap at Turn 5 between Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team), Tito Rabat (PETRONAS MIE Honda Racing Team) and Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), with the latter able to continue both Montella and Rabat retiring. The incident was investigated after the race with Montella given a double Long Lap Penalty for irresponsible riding. Michael Rinaldi (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team) retired from the race with a technical issue.
The top nine from the Tissot Superpole Race, full results here:
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.105s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.703s
4. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) +1.593s
5. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +1.810s
6. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +3.626s
7. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +3.677s
8. Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +5.138s
9. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +7.115s
Fastest lap: Nicolo Bulega (Ducati), 1’48.165s
Don’t miss Race 2 from 14:00 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass – now only €9.99!