Petrucci takes maiden WorldSBK victory at Cremona Race 1 after Red Flag, Bautista recovers to third

Danilo Petrucci took his maiden WorldSBK victory at Cremona in Race 1, with the red flag coming out at the end of the race due to technical issues. Alvaro Bautista recovered to third place after starting outside the Top 10.

Petrucci would let the tears flow as he crossed the line to take his first ever World Superbike victory at Cremona in a chaotic first race at the Italian venue which saw the red flag be waved after technical problems at the circuit.

It would be a relatively clean start throughout the field in this first ever WSBK race at Cremona, as Andrea Iannone, Andrea Locatelli, Danilo Petrucci and Alex Lowes all battled around the fast, twisty and winding corners around this Italian circuit. Nicolo Bulega would hold his lead in the first couple of laps, with Iannone eventually firing his Ducati down the inside of Bulega at the downhill Turn 4 right-hander.

Alvaro Bautista started from well outside the Top 10 and initially struggled to make much progress, the Spaniard sitting well out of championship contention over 100 points down on Toprak Razgatlioglu, who will miss the entire Cremona WSBK round. Crucially, Nicolo Bulega was only 55 points down on Razgatlioglu, the Italian WSBK rookie looking to take advantage of Razgatlioglu’s absence.

Danilo Petrucci would draw level with Iannone on the brakes at the end of the first sector, with Petrucci pulling ahead of his fellow compatriot and taking the lead of the race. Meanwhile, Sam Lowes would crash out of the race after running just outside the Top 10.

Michael van der Mark had made exceptional progress early into the race, going from 15th to ninth place after just a handful of laps. Just behind the Dutchman, Alvaro Bautista would eventually overtake Bradley Ray to find himself inside the Top 10, the reigning champion looking to have another recovery ride, much like the Spaniard needed to do back in Magny-Cours.

However, on the ninth lap, Andrea Iannone would crash out of the race from second place, crashing at Turn 7 after running deep into the corner, the bike sliding out from underneath him. Meanwhile, van der Mark and Bautista would duel intensely for eighth place, the pair running side-by-side for half a lap.

Just a couple of laps after Iannone’s crash, Alex Lowes would also fall off his Kawasaki at Turn 7 and crash out of the opening race in a similar way to Iannone, as temperatures began to drop around the circuit.

Iker Lecuona would battle with Andrea Locatelli for what became a podium place as we reached the halfway stage in the race. Meanwhile, Bautista cut through the field like a hot knife through butter, quickly closing on Axel Bassani, Xavi Vierge and Andrea Locatelli and overtaking all three of them within a couple of laps as the reigning champion set his sights on Lecuona for third place.

During the closing stages of the race, Petrucci would extend his lead over Bulega to over one second, as Bautista drew closer and eventually overtook Lecuona for the final podium spot on the back straight heading into Turn 11. In the closing stages of the race, Andrea Locatelli would run into issues, dropping to 12th place.

Bizarrely, the race would be red-flagged due to technical issues with just six laps remaining, with Danilo Petrucci taking his maiden World Superbike Championship victory. Petrucci becomes the first ever rider to win a race in MotoGP, WorldSBK, MotoAmerica and Dakar.

Featured Image: Barni Spark Ducati and Danilo Petrucci