A daring move by Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on the entry to Turn 5 on the fifth lap was the moment the Italian won the Tissot Superpole Race at the Circuito de Jerez Angel Nieto. Having taken the holeshot Bulega was attacked by Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) on Lap 2. The Turkish rider led the race for four laps before Bulega came past and immediately opened a gap to his rival. At the chequered flag it was a winning margin of over two seconds.
From the front row of the grid Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) made sure that his final race weekend aboard a Kawasaki was marked with a podium finish. Mid-race Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) closed to within two tenths of a second but Lowes was able to hold his nerve and claim his eighth Superpole Race podium of the season.
Race 2 Highlights
Having started from pole position Bulega once again led at the start for the opening two laps. Into Turn 1 on Lap 3 Razgatlioglu made his move to the front and led for the remainder of the race. The gap between the BMW rider and Bulega never stretched to over one second and on Lap 10 Bulega was able to find half a second and put the pressure on the race leader.
With Razgatlioglu struggling for grip the World Champion made an adjustment and found a way to stay at the front. A red flag, for a technical problem for Phillip Oettl, brought the season to a premature close on Lap 16 but Razgatlioglu had already done enough to claim his 18th victory of the season.
Michael van der Mark joined his teammate on the podium for the first time. Starting from the second row of the grid the Dutchman moved into the podium spots ahead of Locatelli at the Dani Pedrosa Corner on Lap 3. From that point onwards he needed to defend from attacks led by Andrea Iannone. The Ducati rider tried an attack into the final corner on Lap on Lap 9 and after contact Iannone dropped to sixth position. At the time of the red flag Iannone was catching van der Mark but ultimately had to settle for fourth position.
Alex Lowes wrapped up fourth in the championship standings with fifth position ahead of Petrucci.
P1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
“After the Superpole race we changed the bike setup and switched the tyre. We tried something new and we had a very good package for Race 2. My biggest problem was losing grip in the last laps. It felt like everything was under control because I felt very good on the front tyre and we won again. Race 2 was very important for me because it’s the last race of the season and I needed to win it. Everyone knows that Ducati is very strong but we beat Ducati again and, I think, this weekend proved BMW is still really strong. But it’s not enough. We need to improve some things for next year, and we’ll see. Overall, I think everyone is very happy. It’s been an amazing weekend because we are World Champions again. I’ve won my second world title. I won my first title for my dad but this championship is just for me. It’s been a long season, a very successful year, and we achieved 13 wins in a row. It’s been an incredible season.”
P2 | Nicolo Bulega | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“It’s been a very good weekend.I think this was the best of the year for me. I tried to win Race 2 but Toprak was very, very fast. I struggled a bit more with the front, and I couldn’t ride at 100% like I did in the Superpole Race. My feeling with the bike wasn’t the best today and Toprak was faster than yesterday. I’m really happy because I think this is the maximum I could do this year and today. I’m proud of my rookie season and I’ll remember it for the rest of my life.”
P3 | Michael van der Mark | ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team
“This podium is a big dream for me. This season has been a dream for the whole BMW team by taking the world title. It’s also fantastic for me because I’ve put a lot of work into developing the bike. BMW kept pushing and supporting me, even though I’ve been a bit unlucky over the last few years. This year, they still believed in me, and I’ve been improving my pace working alongside Toprak. At a certain point this year we felt the podium was coming. Today was fantastic because Toprak was able to win in the last race and I was able to finish on the podium with him. It’s fantastic for everyone. It’s great for the whole team to finish the season with two riders on the podium and now we’re ready to start preparing for next season.”
WorldSBK Race 2 Results
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.545s
3. Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +10.938s
4. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +12.399s
5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +13.522s
6. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +13.948s
Championship Standings
1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 527 points
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 484 points
3. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 357 points
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race Results
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +2.375s
3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +4.182s
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