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DEFINING STORIES, ROUND 5: Rea’s first Yamaha podium, Bautista bounces back and Toprak’s streak continues

Wednesday, 11 December 2024 09:04 GMT

    • Donington Park welcomed WorldSBK in the height of summer as Razgatlioglu remained unbeatable, Rea claimed an emotional rostrum and Bautista’s epic comeback

    As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship closed in on the halfway stage of the season, the tension was really ramping up. After giving BMW their first hat-trick list time at Misano, Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) repeated that at Donington while there was joy for Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) as he took his first rostrum in Blue. Elsewhere, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) pulled off an epic comeback to take P3 in Race 1 after lining up from 11th on the grid. Catch up on the Race 1 and Race 2 action here and watch Superpole Race highlights on the WorldSBK YouTube channel!

    BACK ON THE BOX: Rea returns to the rostrum on home soil

    The start of 2024 had been nothing short of disastrous for Rea, with one pole position in the wet at Assen the highlight. At Donington, there was another glimmer of hope for the six-time Champion as he fought his way to a Tissot Superpole Race rostrum. A mega start from eighth on the grid left him fourth at Turn 1 and he then pulled off an outstanding move on rookie Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) at Turn 4 to slot into third. He pulled out a gap over the chasing back to finish in P3, something he said ‘felt like a win’, behind Razgatlioglu and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati).

    RAZGATLIOGLU’S RUN CONTINUES: 7 in a row…

    ‘El Turco’ was hitting his stride in the middle part of the season. A Race 2 win at Assen was followed up with his first BMW hat-trick at Misano, and this was all before WorldSBK visited his favourite circuit. He topped every session except FP3, including taking a lap record smashing pole position, and led every lap except two across all three races. His Race 1 winning margin was 11.384s – one of the Turkish star’s biggest ever – as he extended his lead at the top of the standings and looked unbeatable heading into Most.

    BAUTISTA'S EPIC COMEBACK: from 11th to third

    The story of Bautista’s season could be summed up with a series of stunning fightbacks. Often outside the top ten in Tissot Superpole, the double WorldSBK Champion would make the most of his strong race pace to fight at the front in the latter stages of races and Donington was no different. He was only 11th when the grid was set but the Spaniard was able to carve his way through the field to secure a rostrum in Race 1 as he finished behind Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

    2025 LOADING: re-watch the incredible 2024 season using the WorldSBK VideoPass!