Bulega and Ducati dominate WorldSBK Australia as Razgatlioglu rues opening round
Nicolo Bulega and Ducati dominated proceedings at the opening round of the World Superbike Championship at Phillip Island in Australia. Meanwhile, reigning World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and BMW experienced several problems throughout the weekend which caused a retirement for the Turkish rider in Race 2, and a crash for teammate Michael van der Mark. This article, rounds up each race of the weekend.
Race 1
Nicolo Bulega made an early breakaway as the lights went out, immediately opening a lead over the rest of the field, completely unchallenged for the duration of the race. Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alvaro Bautista duelled for second and third place, the BMW of Razgatlioglu eventually coming out on top after some initial problems, particularly with running wide at critical corners like Turn 1’s Doohan corner.
The first crash of the 2025 season would go to Remy Gardner, the Australian dropped his Yamaha at Turn 4’s Miller corner before quickly rejoining the race, albeit far from the riders ahead. Gardner previously crashed during the opening race of the 2024 season as well, with the home-hero repeating that feat to kick start the new season.
Michael van der Mark would also be involved in a high-speed crash, the Dutchman going down at Turn 1, rolling right out into the gravel trap on the outside. van der Mark had initially been able to match the pace relative to BMW teammate Toprak Razgatlioglu, and was involved in the first half of the race, as both BMW’s attempted to battle Bautista, Scott Redding and Danilo Petrucci for the final two podium places.
Andrea Iannone had an electrifying start to the race, coming through early on and holding strong pace, enough for the Italian to earn himself a serious shot at the podium. However, things would quickly change after the ex-MotoGP rider’s Ducati Panigale had a series of issues, leading to Iannone losing a lot of time, running deep at Turn 1 multiple times and seemingly struggling with traction control. Iannone would however, finish in sixth position after a torrid race aboard the Panigale.
Bulega would claim a measured, controlled and an overall dominated race victory ahead of the reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu, as Alvaro Bautista rounded out the podium, the factory Ducati squad taking a double podium to kickstart the new season.
Race 1 Results
1st Nicolo Bulega, Ducati
2nd Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW
3rd Alvaro Bautista, Ducati
4th Danilo Petrucci, Ducati
5th Scott Redding, Ducati
6th Andrea Iannone, Ducati
7th Andrea Locatelli, Yamaha
8th Alex Lowes, Kawasaki
9th Axel Bassani, Kawasaki
10th Sam Lowes, Ducati
11th Xavi Vierge, Honda
12th Domi Aegerter, Yamaha
13th Ryan Vickers, Ducati
14th Tetsuta Nagashima, Honda
15th Bahattin Sofuoglu, Yamaha
16th Tarran Mackenzie, Honda
DNF Remy Gardner, Yamaha
DNF Michael van der Mark, BMW
DNF Garrett Gerloff, Kawasaki
DNF Tito Rabat, Yamaha
DNF Yari Montella, Ducati
Superpole Race
With the Tissot Superpole race acting as a Sprint race and therefore giving riders inside the leading nine positions an opportunity to add to their points tally, the Superpole race is also vital as it decides the Top 10 for Race 2 later on Sunday.
Nicolo Bulega once again made an exceptional start, as Andrea Iannone followed close behind his compatriot for a number of laps, immediately overtaking Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu, in a similar way to what Iannone did in Race 1. Razgatlioglu would attempt to quickly strike back against the Yellow Ducati of Iannone, however would run massively deep into Turn 4’s Miller corner, the long, slow right-hander of Turn 4 allowing for riders to try and run different lines and get a good exit.
However, Razgatlioglu would completely misjudge the braking zone, barrelling through and almost collecting Bulega and Iannone, the Turkish rider somehow able to position his BMW into a small gap in between Iannone and Bulega. With Bautista on the outside of Razgatlioglu, the Spanish rider would be forced to run incredibly deep with Razgatlioglu, well out onto the grass. Bautista’s problems had only just begun however, as the two-time champion later crashed again on the exit of Turn 6’s Siberia corner. Bautista would subsequently finish in last place of the riders who completed the race.
Further behind that incident on Lap 1, Xavi Vierge, Garrett Gerloff and Tetsuta Nagashima would all be involved in a crash as well, which saw Vierge receive a penalty and the other riders forced to retire from the race.
The race settled down at the front after a chaotic opening lap that saw the last two World Champions of WorldSBK take one another off the road and put them well down at the back of the field. Razgatlioglu would quickly come back through on the riders at the back, finishing in a solid 13th position, albeit setting himself up for a more difficult second race.
With two of the leading riders running at the back of the field, it gave an opportunity for Danilo Petrucci, Scott Redding and Sam Lowes to fight for the final spot on the podium, with the trio duelling in the closing laps of the race. Petrucci would come out on top, as Redding and Lowes battled right down to the flag, with Redding just about holding fourth, With strong finishing positions, it also set them all up to continue a battle for the podium in Race 2.
Bulega would come through to take the race victory after dominating the race once again, a strong start to the season for the Italian who starts just his second season in the sport.
Superpole Race Results
1st Nicolo Bulega, Ducati
2nd Andrea Iannone, Ducati
3rd Danilo Petrucci, Ducati
4th Scott Redding, Ducati
5th Sam Lowes, Ducati
6th Andrea Locatelli, Yamaha
7th Alex Lowes, Kawasaki
8th Yari Montella, Ducati
9th Axel Bassani, Kawasaki
10th Remy Gardner, Yamaha
11th Xavi Vierge, Honda
12th Domi Aegerter, Yamaha
13th Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW
14th Michael van der Mark, BMW
15th Ryan Vickers, Ducati
16th Tito Rabat, Yamaha
17th Bahattin Sofuoglu, Yamaha
18th Tarran Mackenzie, Honda
19th Alvaro Bautista, Ducati
DNF Tetsuta Nagashima, Honda
DNF Garrett Gerloff, Kawasaki
Race 2
Yet another phenomenal start for Nicolo Bulega and Andrea Iannone would see the pair of them running nose-to-tail early on in the last race of the weekend, as Bulega once again controlled the pace of the race. Bulega’s teammate Alvaro Bautista would get pushed wide early on in the race, however despite that, both Bautista and Razgatlioglu ended the first lap inside the Top 10 after their lower starting positions.
As the riders found their footing at the beginning of the race, Bautista would give the fans some entertainment, diving up the inside of both Danilo Petrucci and Scott Redding into Turn 1’s Doohan corner, taking third place as the Spaniard set his sights on making it a Factory Ducati 1-2, with Iannone the only person standing in his way.
Razgatlioglu attempted to follow Bautista through, making a pass on Petrucci into Turn 4’s Miller corner. However, the reigning champion would make contact with Petrucci, sending the Italian wide and therefore losing two places to both Razgatlioglu and Sam Lowes. Razgatlioglu would have to drop one place and let Petrucci back through after the stewards reviewed the incident, however as the Turkish rider attempted to let Petrucci through, Sam Lowes would also put his Ducati up the inside of the reigning champion.
As the riders made their pit stops, Bulega would hold the lead once again, but crucially the BMW of Razgatlioglu would have major problems, losing a lot of time as the reigning champion would eventually be forced to retire from the race, losing a lot of points in the opening round of the 2025 championship.
Bulega would finish the race to complete a perfect weekend, setting three Fastest Laps and taking three race victories across the weekend, with no other riders even getting close to the young Italian throughout any of the races. Alvaro Bautista would take second place to complete a Factory Ducati 1-2, with Andrea Iannone rounding out the podium places.
Looking at the results and data from this weekend, it does appear that Ducati will very much be the manufacturer to beat in 2025, with BMW and Toprak Razgatliolgu now in a desperate position of playing catch-up.
Race 2 Results
1st Nicolo Bulega, Ducati
2nd Alvaro Bautista, Ducati
3rd Andrea Iannone, Ducati
4th Scott Redding, Ducati
5th Danilo Petrucci, Ducati
6th Sam Lowes, Ducati
7th Andrea Locatelli, Yamaha
8th Alex Lowes, Kawasaki
9th Yari Montella, Ducati
10th Axel Bassani, Kawasaki
11th Xavi Vierge, Honda
12th Domi Aegerter, Yamaha
13th Garrett Gerloff, Kawasaki
14th Michael van der Mark, BMW
15th Ryan Vickers, Ducati
16th Bahattin Sofuoglu, Yamaha
17th Tito Rabat, Yamaha
18th Tetsuta Nagashima, Honda
DNF Remy Gardner, Yamaha
DNF Toprak Razgatlioglu, BMW
DNF Tarran Mackenzie, Honda
Featured Image: Ducati Corse Media
