WorldSBK Catalunya: Bautista Takes First 2024 Win, First Yamaha Points for Rea

Round two of the 2024 WorldSBK Championship takes it to Catalunya and the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. After taking two wins in Austrlaia, Alex Lowes leads the riders' points ahead of this weekend's WorldSBK Catalunya.

Overview

• Race 2 - Bautista outlasts Bulega for Catalan Race 2 win, Razgatlioglu third

• Superpole Race - Razgatlioglu repeats Rossi with last lap victory pass on Bautista

• Race 1 - Razgatlioglu hunts Bulega for late Race 1 victory

• Superpole - Razgatlioglu on pole with new lap record as Bautista misses top 10

• Friday Practice - Bulega heads Ducati 1-2-3-4 as Bautista rediscovers speed

• Schedule - All the times you need to follow the action this weekend in Catalunya

• 2023 - Alvaro Bautista and Ducati dominant in Barcelona, close battle for the podium behind

Race 2

Alvaro Bautista took a commanding first victory of the 2024 WorldSBK season in Race 2 in Catalunya, beating his teammate Nicolo Bulega in a cagey, race-long battle.

It was Bautista who made the holeshot, but Bulega took the lead at the first corner on lap five. A burst of pace from the Italian split the pack that, until then, had mostly stayed together, and the #11 began to drag himself and his teammate away from the pack.

By half-distance, the two Aruba,.it Racing Ducatis were completely alone, and Bautista retook the lead on lap 10.

Although Bulega was able to stay with the reigning champion, he was unable to mount a serious challenge in the closing stages, as Bautista’s notorious tyre management paid in a 25-point maximum from Race 2.

Bulega showed he’d learned his lesson of Race 1 by maintaining a consistent pace throughout the race, just falling two seconds adrift of Bautista in the final three laps following a major front slide at the penultimate corner.

As Bulega finished second, Toprak Razgatlioglu took third place, unable to take advantage of any mismanagement by the Ducatis ahead of him, as said mismanagement was absent in Race 2. A seven-second deficit to Bautista will be a concern to the #54.

Michael van der Mark finished fourth, five seconds behind his BMW teammate, Razgatlioglu, and 12 seconds off the win, but ahead of Danilo Petrucci in fifth place. Remy Gardner, the leading Yamaha, was sixth, ahead of Alex Lowes, the best Kawasaki (and sole surviving factory ZX-10RR rider after Axel Bassani was nerfed at turn four by Michael Ruben Rinaldi on the opening lap, ending both Italians’ races), and Jonathan Rea who scored his first WorldSBK points as a Yamaha rider in eighth place. Dominique Aegerter was ninth, and Garrett Gerloff beat his Bonovo Action teammate Scott Redding to the final position in the top 10.

Full WorldSBK results from Race 2 in Catalunya are below.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Race 2

Superpole Race

Toprak Razgatlioglu took his second win of the weekend in the Catalan WorldSBK Superpole Race, defeating Alvaro Bautista in the final corner.

The battle for the win began at the beginning, when Andrea Iannone made the holeshot but then lost the lead to Sam Lowes at turn nine on the opening lap. Lap five then saw three leaders in half-a-lap as Lowes dropped back and Iannone, Razgatlioglu, and Nicolo Bulega all tried to take advantage. Ultimately, it was Razgatlioglu who benefited most from the lap five melee, going from fourth to the lead.

Although the #54 was displaced from the front on lap six by Iannone, he reclaimed it on lap seven. By this time, reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista was cutting his way towards the front having started 11th.

Bautista made his move on Razgatlioglu for the lead at turn one on the final lap, and seemed to have the race won when he beat the BMW rider to the apex of turn 10. But an excellent final sector from Razgatlioglu put him in position to repeat the famous overtake of Valentino Rossi on Jorge Lorenzo in the 2009 Catalan MotoGP race, which he executed successfully. A bonus for Razgatlioglu, in terms of points, was that Iannone also found his way through on Bautista, who sat up to avoid Razgatlioglu.

That left Bautista in third place, ahead of his factory Ducati teammate Nicolo Bulega, who was rather out-battled by the three ahead of him. Alex Lowes was fifth on the Kawasaki, ahead of Michael van der Mark on the second BMW in sixth, while Danilo Petrucci took seventh place, ahead of eighth-placed Andrea Locatelli, and Remy Gardner who took the final point in ninth. Dominique Aegerter, on the third Yamaha in a row, rounded out the top 10.

Full WorldSBK results from the Catalan Superpole Race are below.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Superpole Race

Race 1

Toprak Razgatlioglu took an exceptional first BMW victory in WorldSBK Race 1 in Catalunya, out-lasting Nicolo Bulega in a last-lap duel.

Razgatlioglu made the holehsot, but Bulega led by lap five, when he passed Andrea Iannone at turn one, Razgatlioglu himself at turn five, and Sam Lowes at turn 10 when the #14 Marc VDS rider crashed out of the lead.

From there, Bulega seemed to repeat the performance of Alvaro Bautista in previous years, smoothly coaxing the Ducati Panigale V4 R to a victory thanks to superior tyre management on the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya’s notoriously low-grip surface.

But, with five laps to go, the Italian rookie began to slip backwards towards Razgatlioglu, who caught him on the final lap and passed him at turn five to take the lead. Bulega was completely out of rear grip, and had no way to respond.

Razgatlioglu, then, took his first win with BMW. Considering Razgatlioglu’s reputation for his aggressive riding style, and the BMW’s historically harsh treatment of rear tyres, it was a surprising way for the #54 to take his first win for the Bavarians, but it was one which proved him right in his decision to head to the German brand, and that together they can mount a title challenge in 2024.

Bulega hung on for the podium, in what was nonetheless an impressive performance from a rider in only his fourth-ever Superbike start. Alvaro Bautista made it an Aruba.it Ducati 2-3, after starting 14th following a three-place grid penalty for cruising in Superpole.

Andrea Iannone impressed to take fourth place in only his fourth race with Pirelli tyres, while Andrea Locatelli rounded out the top five. Alex Lowes took sixth place for Kawasaki, ahead of Danilo Petrucci who faded to seventh towards the end. Behind, Dominique Aegerter was eighth, Michael van der Mark ninth, and Axel Bassani rounded out the top 10.

Yamaha's Jonathan Rea retired to the pits on the first lap.

Full WorldSBK results from Race 1 in Catalunya are below.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Race 1

Superpole

Superpole for the 2024 Catalan WorldSBK was, somewhat surprisingly, dominated by BMW and Toprak Razgatlioglu, who took their first pole position together.

Razgatlioglu was over 1.5 seconds faster on the BMW in 2024 than he had been on the Yamaha in 2023 with his 1:39.489, which put him 0.102 seconds ahead of the favourite for the races, Aruba.it Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega, while Andrea Iannone continued his impressive Superbike debut season with third place.

Michael van der Mark was 0.458 seconds slower than his factory BMW teammate, Razgatlioglu, but that was still good enough for fourth-fastest. He will be joined by fifth-placed Sam Lowes - the last rider in the 1:39s in Superpole - and Dominique Aegerter, the fastest of the Yamahas.

Alex Lowes was the best Kawasaki in seventh place, ahead of Remy Gardner in eighth and Andrea Locatelli in ninth. Danilo Petrucci rounded out the Superpole top 10, ahead of Alvaro Bautista in 11th and Scott Redding in 12th. Jonathan Rea could only manage 13th.

Full times from WorldSBK Superpole in Barcelona are below. Below the Superpole times are the times from Saturday morning FP3.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Superpole

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | FP3

Friday Practice

Nicolo Bulega was the fastest rider of Friday in WorldSBK, almost a-quarter-of-a-second faster than his factory Ducati teammate, Alvaro Bautista.

Bautista had not expected to be competitive after struggling in the pre-event test in Barcelona last week, and his 11th-fastest time in FP1 seemed to support that. But he rediscovered some speed in FP2 to end the day second to his rookie teammate.

Danilo Petrucci completed an all-Ducati top three, while Sam Lowes made it an all-Ducati top four in what was an encouraging day for the Bologna marque.

Torpak Razgatlioglu led a BMW 1-2 from his teammate Michael van der Mark in FP1, but the 2021 champion could only manage fifth-fastest in FP2, at least preventing an all-Ducati top five, as Andrea Iannone on the Go Eleven Panigale was sixth. Jonathan Rea was the leading Yamaha in seventh place, ahead of Remy Gardner in eighth, Axel Bassani in ninth and ahead of his factory Kawasaki teammate, points leader Alex Lowes, who rounded out the top 10.

Full WorldSBK times from FP1 and FP2 in Barcelona are below.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | FP1

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Results | FP2

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Times

The 2024 Catalan WorldSBK marks the second round of the season. Alex Lowes leas the riders' points heading to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, having won both Sunday at the Australian Round in February.

The full schedule for the 2024 WorldSBK Catalan Round are below. Times are in GMT.

2024 Catalan WorldSBK Schedule

2023 Catalan WorldSBK

The 2023 Catalan WorldSBK was dominated by Alvaro Bautista, who took pole position and all three race wins, winning both full-length races by more than eight seconds. Toprak Razgatlioglu was second in all three races, while Jonathan Rea, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, and Andrea Locatelli all took one third place each.

2023 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Race 2

2023 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Superpole Race

2023 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Race 1

2023 Catalan WorldSBK Results | Superpole

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