The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned for a thrilling Race 1 at the Tissot Aragon round in Spain on Saturday. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) took the hole shot at lights out, with Andrea Ianonne (Team GoEleven) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) chasing him down. The race was shortly red flagged however after British rider Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) suffered a mechanical failure on his bike which resulted in a crash on Lap1 of the race.

LOWES AND BULEGA OUT: Pivotal Championship result 

With a 17-lap revised race after the track conditions were deemed safe, an unexpected mechanical issue for Ducati rider Bulega on the warm up lap, forced him out of the race restart. He joined Sam Lowes trackside who was also unable to return to the grid following his crash. #29 Anrdea Iannone led the field from the restart, with last week’s triple race winner, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) hunting him down and fellow Italian, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) close on his tail. At 10 laps remaining, it was Petrucci who flew to first position, with an impressive performance from Championship leader Razgatlioglu riding a strong second place in his comeback race.

BAUTISTA FINDS PACE: #1 challenges for rostrum

It was a close five-way battle for much of the race, with 2023 World Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in close contention, amongst rivals Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW). With 9 laps remaining, Bautista challenged the #54 for a podium spot, but failed to make it stick, running out wide into the track and falling to sixth. Fast forward to 1 and a half laps of race distance remaining, and Iannone was out in front, finding strong race pace and gapping Razgatlioglu and Gerloff in second and third. Bautista had worked his way back, challenged Gerloff for third on the last lap, but an impressive response from Gerloff kept him on the rostrum, with the Spaniard taking fourth at the chequered flag.

FOURTH NEW WINNER: Iannone takes 5th career podium  

Four new race winners, including Nicolo Bulega, Nicholas Spinelli, Petrucci and now Iannone have taken the top podium position in the 2024 WorldSBK Championship season, the first time since 2008 (Fonsi Nieto, Neukirchner, Carlos Checa and Kiyonari). #29 becomes the fifteenth Italian to step on the podium, and becomes the 82^nd WorldSBK winner. It was Petrucci who led Spaniard Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) to round off the top 6 in Race 1, with Alex Lowes and Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) crossing the line in seventh and eight whilst Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Locatelli completed the top 10 finishers at the Spanish circuit.

CHAMPIONSHIP BATTLES: Toprak extends lead

Toprak Razgatlioglu has increased his Championship campaign to 385 points with his Race 1 result, with Nicolo Bulega remaining on 352 and Bautista increasing his points to 296.

The top six from WorldSBK Race 1, full results here:

1. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.845s
3. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +1.124s
4. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +1.190s
5. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +2.528s
6. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +4.758s

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