Race report

World Superbike Losail

Qatar WSBK: Rea bags 17th win to cap off season

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea capped off his fifth title-winning World Superbike campaign with victory in the final race of the year in Qatar.

Lewis Duncan

Edited: Oct 26, 2019, 5:53 PM

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Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team

Rea battled with the Ducati duo of Alvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies in the first half of the 17-lap second feature race, before making a crucial break with six laps to go to secure his 17th win of the year.

The Kawasaki rider once again grabbed the initial holeshot from pole position, but was challenged by the fast-starting Bautista on the run into Turn 1, reclaiming the lead when the Ducati ran wide.

Bautista used the brutal power of the Panigale V4 R to ease past Rea on the main straight as they started the second lap, though would then be re-passed at the Turn 7 right-hander.

The Ducati rider made mistakes at Turns 8 and 9 trying to keep Rea at arm’s length, and allowed him to build a small margin in front.

Behind, Davies cut his way through on the Yamaha duo of Alex Lowes and Michael van der Mark, and the Puccetti Kawasaki of Toprak Razgatlioglu at the start of the fourth lap and set about chasing the leaders.

He started the fifth tour a second adrift of Rea and Bautista, who had closed up once more, and that gap was reduced as the top two engaged.

Bautista shot past Rea on the run to Turn 1 on the ninth lap, though the Kawasaki seized the position back with a daring move at the Turn 6 hairpin.

Davies watched on as this unfolded, and struggled to find a way past his team-mate as Rea immediately started to break away.

Building up a lead of eight tenths, Rea was 1.9s ahead with four laps to go and came under no threat to end the season with the triple in Qatar.

Davies found a way past on Bautista at the penultimate corner with four laps remaining, and fended him off by a tenth of a second on the run to the chequered flag to secure second.

Bautista’s final race on the Ducati ends with the 25th podium of his rookie year, while Alex Lowes tied up third in the standings in fourth place on his last outing as a Yamaha rider.

Razgatlioglu snatched fifth in the end, with Eugene Laverty making his way up to sixth on the Go Eleven Ducati ahead of van der Mark, Ten Kate’s Loris Baz and Leon Haslam – who faded dramatically in the latter stages on the sister KRT machine.

Sandro Cortese completed the top 10 on the GRT Yamaha, while his teammate Marco Melandri signed off his racing career out of the points in 17th after making a late mistake.

Wildcard Dominic Schmitter was a retirement on the YART Yamaha, while Althea Honda’s Alessandro Delbianco also failed to reach the chequered flag.

Race results

Cla # Rider Bike Laps Time 1 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 17 33'34.809 2 7 Chaz Davies
Ducati 17 33'37.787 3 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista
Ducati 17 33'37.909 4 22 Alex Lowes
Yamaha 17 33'47.282 5 54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu
Kawasaki 17 33'49.155 6 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty
Ducati 17 33'49.918 7 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark
Yamaha 17 33'50.434 8 76 France Loris Baz
Yamaha 17 33'50.829 9 91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam
Kawasaki 17 33'52.663 10 11 Germany Sandro Cortese
Yamaha 17 33'53.141 11 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado
Kawasaki 17 33'57.063 12 66 Tom Sykes
BMW 17 33'57.196 13 81 Spain Jordi Torres
Kawasaki 17 34'02.988 14 28 Germany Markus Reiterberger
BMW 17 34'04.296 15 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 17 34'07.395 16 2 United Kingdom Leon Camier
Honda 17 34'10.535 17 33 Italy Marco Melandri
Yamaha 17 34'15.358 18 23 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari
Honda 17 34'19.653 9 Switzerland Dominic Schmitter
Yamaha 5 12 laps 52 Italy Alessandro Del Bianco
Honda 2 15 laps View full results

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