DEFINING STORIES, ROUND 10: Razgatlioglu returns at Aragon, Iannone wins in comeback year
After missing rounds at Magny-Cours and Cremona with a pneumothorax, the Turk returned to racing at Aragon, and managed to extend his lead over Bulega at a key moment of the year
Toprak Razgatlioglu’s (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) injury at Magny-Cours was a major blow for him and the Championship. After 13 consecutive wins, the Turk was forced to miss six races and there were doubts about how he would be on his return at MotorLand Aragon. Those doubts were swept away with three podiums and extending his lead in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship over Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). That weekend also saw Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) take his first WorldSBK win and Garrett Gerloff's (Bonovo Action BMW) second podium of the year. Enjoy the highlights from Race 1 and Race 2 HERE.
SATURDAY: Iannone takes first win, Bulega out before the start
Race 1 was one of the big surprises of the year. Before the start, Bulega had a technical problem on his Panigale V4 R that put him out of the race, so it was clear that he was going to lose a lot of points in the standings compared to Razgatlioglu. For his part, the Turk achieved a solid second place to consolidate his lead but the big protagonists that day were two other riders. After four years away from competition, Iannone took his first WorldSBK victory and his first since 2016. On the other hand, Gerloff scored his second podium in 2024 and the last with Bonovo Action BMW and the brand and was on the rostrum with Toprak for the first time since 2021.
A MEMORABLE SUNDAY: epic fight in the Superpole Race
Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was 64 thousandths of a second off the podium on Saturday in Aragon but made up for it on Sunday with a double. In the Superpole Race, he, Razgatlioglu and Bulega gave us one of the fights of the year over the course of 10 laps. In the end, it was decided in favour of the Spaniard while Toprak finished second, less than a tenth behind and the Italian another tenth behind. In the afternoon, the result was the same. Bautista won more comfortably, followed by Razgatlioglu and Bulega, who completed the podium in that order. Bautista, who was forced to wait since Assen in April, was back on top, even if they would be his last wins of 2024.
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