WorldSBK Donington Park, Great Britain - Superpole Race Results
A dominant Jonathan Rea secured his third WorldSBK Superpole race win of the season at Donington Park.
| WorldSBK Donington Park, Great Britain - Superpole Race Results | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | 10 Laps |
| 2 | Tom Sykes | GBR | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +2.531s |
| 3 | Michael Van Der Mark | NED | Motorrad BMW WorldSBK Team | +3.409s |
| 4 | Leon Haslam | GBR | Team HRC | +3.955s |
| 5 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha | +4.067s |
| 6 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha | +5.011s |
| 7 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Kawasaki Puccetti | +6.461s |
| 8 | Chaz Davies | GBR | GoEleven Ducati | +11.599s |
| 9 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha | +20.284s |
| 10 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Ducati | +24.865s |
| 11 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +25.318s |
| 12 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | RC Squadra Corse BMW | +25.584s |
| 13 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +40.885s |
| 14 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team | >1 Lap |
| 15 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Team HRC | >1 Lap |
| 16 | Jonas Folger | GER | Benovo BMW | >1 Lap |
| 17 | Luke Mossey | GBR | Pedercini Kawasaki | >1 Lap |
| 18 | Scott Redding | GBR | Aruba.It Ducati | >1 Lap |
| 19 | Christophe Ponsson | FRA | Gil Yamaha | DNF |
| 20 | Loris Cresson | BEL | Pedercini Kawasaki | DNF |
| 21 | Tito Rabat | SPA | Barni Ducati | DNF |
Rea led every lap from pole as intermediates were the tyre choice for most. The circuit did begin to dry around mid-race distance, which spelled bad news for an already slow Scott Redding who chose wet tyres.
The Ducati rider’s weekend goes from bad to worse as he remains pointless through two races.
Alex Lowes crashed on lap two while pressuring Rea for the lead. Tito Rabat suffered his second DNF in two races at Donington, as he too crashed on lap two.
Race one winner Toprak Razgatlioglu came from 13th to finish sixth in another strong recovery ride, while it was a first double podium of the year for BMW riders Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark.
Race One
Razgatlioglu produced a stunning race one performance at Donington Park to claim his first WorldSBK win on British soil.
The Yamaha rider fresh off a new two-year deal came from 13th on the grid to lead after only two laps.
Razgatlioglu took the lead at turn 11 (Melbourne Loop) from Rea, which turned out to be the race winning overtake.
Race one began with every rider choosing slick tyres even though the track remained damp in places. This didn’t remain the case for very long though as the sun came out creating a completely dry track by race end.
Redding suffered a fast crash at turn three on lap two, while Christophe Ponsson also went down a few corners later.
There was more drama on lap three, as championship leader Jonathan Rea nearly went down at the same craner curves that caught out Redding. Rea stayed aboard his Kawasaki ZX10-RR but went across the grass and lost three seconds to Razgatlioglu.
Rea managed to reduce the gap down to 1.5 seconds, however, another costly mistake in sector one saw the gap increase to over three seconds again. Rea eventually finished second in the end - +2.419s down, while team-mate Alex Lowes profited from Gerloff’s crash when running third to claim a race one podium.
The American recovered to finish sixth in the end. Andrea Locatelli was the third rider to crash out of the race. Tito Rabat retired from the race after 13 laps due to a mechanical issue.
