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Rachit Thukral

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