Estoril WSBK: Rea beats Razgatlioglu to win on last lap

As was the case in Saturday’s opening contest, pole-sitter Rea lost the lead at the start of the race, with Razgatlioglu making a superior launch from second place to grab the holeshot into Turn 1.

Rea then ran wide at the hairpin later on the opening lap, allowing Razgatlioglu some breathing space in the early stages of the 10-lap race.

However, the Ulsterman took little time to close the gap back to the Yamaha rider and at the start of lap 3 he used the superior grunt of the Kawasaki to grab the lead again.

Razgatlioglu fought back four laps later, passing Rea under the brakes into Turn 1 as they continued a fierce battle for victory.

It appeared that Razgatlioglu had finally done enough to score a first win of 2022 as the final lap began, but he had a major moment going into the Turn 9/10 chicane, allowing Rea to come through and snatch victory from his grasp.

This was the second time in two races that the Turkish rider was denied a victory at Estoril, having lost out to Alvaro Bautista in a dash to the finish line on Saturday.

The difference between Rea and Razgatlioglu at the chequered flag was just 0.174s, with championship leader Bautista finishing nearly five seconds back as the best-of-the-rest on the factory Ducati.

Honda’s Iker Lecuona once appeared a serious threat for a podium place as he piled pressure on Bautista with an intermediate-slick tyre combination on a damp but drying track, but his pace faded in the second half of the race and he had to settle for fourth.

Finishing fifth was Andrea Locatelli on the second factory Yamaha, with Alex Lowes ending up right on his tail in sixth on the works Kawasaki.

Scott Redding rocketed to third at the start of the race but his BMW didn’t have the pace to keep up with the frontrunners, the British rider eventually classified seventh and some 10s off the lead.

Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi fended off Xaxi Fores on the satellite Go Eleven bike to claim eighth, as the latter impressed again as a last-minute replacement for the injured Philipp Oettl.

The top 10 was rounded out by  Axel Bassani on another privately-run Panigale V4 R entered by the Motocorsa team.

Several riders crashed out from the race including Bonovo MGM duo Loris Baz and Eugene Laverty, with the second-named taken to the medical centre for check-ups.

Xaxi Vierge was forced to pit his Honda at the end of the second lap with mechanical troubles.

Estoril WSBK - Superpole race results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	16'21.784
2	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	16'21.958	0.174
3	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	16'26.709	4.925
4	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	16'28.834	7.050
5	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	16'30.024	8.240
6	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	16'30.468	8.684
7	45	Scott Redding	BMW	16'32.077	10.293
8	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	16'51.300	29.516
9	12	Xavi Fores	Ducati	16'51.325	29.541
10	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	16'53.898	32.114
11	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	16'53.925	32.141
12	23	Christophe Ponsson	Yamaha	17'14.042	52.258
13	32	Isaac Viñales	Kawasaki	17'14.993	53.209
14	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	17'17.265	55.481
15	29	Luca Bernardi	Ducati	17'28.065	1'06.281
16	35	Hafizh Syahrin	Honda	17'29.507	1'07.723
17	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	17'29.542	1'07.758
	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	6 Laps
	76	Loris Baz	BMW	7 Laps
	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	9 Laps
	17	Marvin Fritz	Yamaha	10 Laps
	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	10 Laps
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