Razgatlioglu dominates WorldSBK Czech Race 1, Iannone and Petrucci duel for the podium

Toprak Razgatlioglu dominated the opening race on Saturday as the Ducati’s of Danilo Petrucci and Andrea Iannone finished behind.

Razgatlioglu rode his BMW through to take victory in the opening Czech SBK race, opening a strong lead early into the race and making good use of the BMW’s brakes, with the rear of the bike often lifting up into the hard braking zone of Turn 1.

The Ducati’s of Nico Bulega, Andrea Iannone and Danilo Petrucci would battle one another for the final podium places, with Petrucci overtaking Iannone at the end of Lap 8, diving to the inside at Turn 12, later overtaking Bulega through the same corner just a lap later.

Xavi Vierge would be given a long lap penalty for taking a shortcut, as HRC Honda’s opening race continued to get worse after the retirement of Iker Lecuona earlier on.

Iannone would manage to overtake Bulega at Turn 12 in similar fashion to Petrucci, with Bulega being surprised at the apex by the Yellow Ducati rider of Iannone, who attempted to hunt down Petrucci. Remy Gardner would run as the top Yamaha rider, racing inside the Top 5 and challenging the Ducati’s ahead, with Alvaro Bautista just behind aboard his Ducati.

Jonathan Rea would also be given a long lap penalty for taking a shortcut at Turn 1, the Yamaha rider initally running in 11th, would eventually end up finishing in tenth place after taking the penalty.

Bulega would be overtaken on Lap 13 by Remy Gardner on the back half of the circuit, later being overtaken by Bautista as Bulega’s Ducati seemed to struggle with tyre wear more than the other riders. Bulega would sink back through the field after initially starting strong.

Iannone would strike back against Petrucci on Lap 15 heading into Turn 1, running slightly too wide as his fellow Italian went back through into the next corner. Alex Lowes would attack Bulega for fifth, losing the front of his Kawasaki after clipping the curb at Turn 2 and eventually retiring from the race.

Bautista closed on Gardner in the closing stages of the race, overtaking the Yamaha rider with just four laps remaining at Turn 1, a hotspot overtaking zone especially for the Ducati riders, and an especially impressive ride to fourth place despite missing his front left winglet.

Razgatlioglu opened up an enormous lead of nearly 10 seconds, holding consistent pace around the 1:32.000 benchmark, with a fastest lap in the mid 1:31.000’s. The Turk would bring his BMW home to win Race 1 and dominate the Saturday proceedings, as he hopes to continue this momentum through to Sunday’s Superpole Race and Race 2.

Iannone would close on Petrucci on the final lap, almost overtaking his fellow compatriot as the pair rounded out the podium places for Ducati, with Bautista finishing a difficult race in fourth place.

World Superbikes Czech Round – Race 1 Results

1st Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW
2nd Danilo Petrucci, Ducati
3rd Andrea Iannone, Ducati
4th Alvaro Bautista, Ducati
5th Remy Gardner, Yamaha
6th Nico Bulega, Ducati
7th Andrea Locatelli, Yamaha
8th Garrett Gerloff, BMW
9th Michaeal Van Der Mark, BMW
10th Jonathan Rea, Yamaha
11th Micheal Ruben Rinaldi, Ducati
12th Sam Lowes, Kawasaki
13th Domi Aegerter, Yamaha
14th Xavi Vierge, Honda
15th Scott Redding, BMW
16th Andrea Bassani, Kawasaki
17th Tito Rabat, Kawasaki
18th Philipp Oettl, Yamaha
19th Bradley Ray, Yamaha
20th Leandro Mercado, Honda
21st Hayden Gillim, Honda
DNF Alex Lowes, Kawasaki
DNF Iker Lecuona, Honda

Featured Image: BMW Group