Razgatlioglu suffered massive wheelspin off the line from second on the grid and dropped down the order, while Bautista went in the other direction and quickly moved up to second behind polesitter Rea.
As Bautista overtook Rea for the lead at the Adelaide Hairpin on the opening lap, Razgatlioglu began his recovery and quickly repassed the second Kawasaki of Alex Lowes, before forcing his way past the BMW of Scott Redding to assume third position.
