The MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship once again gives fans spectacular, action-packed races, thanks in part to the performance of Pirelli Diablo Rain tyres. Jonathan Rea is back on top in the Championship Standings, six points ahead of Razgatlioglu
Barcelona (Spain), 18 September 2021 – For the first day of MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship races held on the Barcelona Circuit - Catalunya, Ducati demonstrated superiority, finishing with three riders on the Race 1 podium, an event that had not happened since the 2012 season.
Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) finished on the top step of a Race 1 conditioned by poor weather ahead of rookie Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing / Ducati Panigale V4 R), who took his first podium in the premier class, and teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R).
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) finished Race 1 fourth, taking back the lead in the overall championship standings with a six-point advantage over Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1), who finished today with zero points due to a technical problem with his bike that forced him to retire.
WorldSBK Race 1:
Race 1 in the WorldSBK class started at 3:15 in the afternoon in a driving rain that forced the entire starting grid to choose rain tyres. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) was the rider with the best start, moving into the lead ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1) who lost precious ground in the early laps whilst engaged in battle with Ducati rider Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing / Ducati Panigale V4 R), with the two putting on a spectacular show of back-and-forth overtaking. The Italian managed to gain the upper hand for second against the championship leader and began chasing down Rea. Behind them, Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW M 1000 RR), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR), and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) battled it out for fifth. In the second half of the race, the podium positions were reversed with Jonathan Rea dropping back to third, overtaken first by Razgatlioglu and then by Bassani, but during the fifteenth lap, the Yamaha rider was astonishingly forced to retire due to a technical problem. With three laps left in the race, an all-Ducati trio was leading with Bassani first, battling with Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) who, after a dismal start, managed to come back up an amazing eight positions and do the fastest lap of the race on the seventeenth lap, and Rinaldi, whereas Rea found himself relegated to fourth and forced to fend off Van der Mark’s attacks. In the final laps, the Ducati riders battled it out for the win with Redding coming out on top to finish first ahead of Bassani (second) and Rinaldi (third).
WorldSBK Race 1 Standings:
WorldSSP Race 1:
Race 1 of WorldSSP started at 1:45 in the afternoon, with Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R) starting extremely well from the tenth spot on the grid and moving into the race lead ahead of Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team / Yamaha YZF R6), Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team / Yamaha YZF R6), Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R), and Raffaele de Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-6R). Before the end of the first lap, the white flag came out due to rain showers which surprised everyone and convinced most of the riders to pit and put Rain tyres on. Loic Arbel (Andotrans Team Torrento / Yamaha YZF R6), on the other hand, preferred to continue racing on slicks, finding himself momentarily in the lead with an advantage of about thirty seconds over Odendaal, who re-entered in second place, Oettl, and Randy Krummenacher (CM Racing / Yamaha YZF R6). The Swiss rider demonstrated an outstanding pace and, during the second half of the race, managed to gain the upper hand over his rivals, taking the lead and building up a safe gap. Oncu fell back several positions and there was an intense battle for second on the final lap between Manuel Gonzalez, Raffaele de Rosa, and Steven Odendaal. When the chequered flag came out, Krummenacher crossed the line first for his first win in Misano since 2019 ahead of Gonzalez (second) and de Rosa (third).
WorldSBK Race 1 Standings:
WorldSSP300 Race 1:
Taking the win in Race 1 of the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship was French Kawasaki rider Jeffrey Buis (MTM Kawasaki / Kawasaki Ninja 400), now third in the overall championship standings, 61 points behind the leader, Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki / Kawasaki Ninja 400). Rounding out the podium were the Yamahas raced by Turkish rider Bahattin Sofuoglu (Biblion Yamaha Motoxracing / Yamaha YZF-R3) and Brazilian Ton Kawakami (AD78 Team Brasil by MS Racing / Yamaha YZF-R3).
Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Cup Race 1 and Race 2:
Iker Garcia Abella (#2) won Race 1, with second place going to Julian Giral (#76) and Fenton Harrison Seabright (#47) third. The British rider also finished on the top step of the podium in Race 2 ahead of Ioannis-Konstantinos Peristeras (#41) and Juan Antonio Conesa Benit (#74).
The Yamaha R3 bLU cRU Cup Championship comes to an end on the Saturday of the Hyundai N Catalunya Round, with the Spanish rider Iker Garcia Abella of the ARCO MotoR University team crowned champion of the 2021 season.
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for WorldSBK Race 1 and WorldSSP Race 1:
In WorldSBK, due to the driving rain that began to fall on the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit twenty minutes before the start of Race 1, the riders made the unanimous choice to go with the rain solutions. At the front, the riders used the standard Diablo Rain tyre (option R), whereas at the rear, they used the X1251 development rain tyre (option R).
In WorldSSP, the riders turned up on the starting grid with slicks mounted. The solutions used the most were the standard SC1 (option B) at the front and the standard SCX (option A) at the rear. After the rain began to fall, all the riders pitted to put on Diablo Rain tyres, with the exception of Loic Arbel (Andotrans Team Torrento / Yamaha YZF R6), who continued and finished the race on slicks. During the race, some riders pitted a second time to mount intermediate or slick tyres.
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1:
Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP Race 1:
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