Toprak Razgatlioglu extended his lead in the championship with a win from pole at the inaugural WorldSBK race at Balaton Park in Hungary that required a restart after 1/3 of the field went down together at turn 2 on the opening lap.
The maiden race at the techincal anti-clockwise circuit in Balaton – which will play host to the 1000th Superbike World Championship race tomorrow – led to a concertina effect through the first 2 corners on the opening lap. Andrea Iannone made a mistake that took himself and six – and nearly seven – others into the gravel trap at turn 2.
Iannone was slapped a double long-lap penalty for triggering the pile-up in what is far from his first such punishment this year. The Italian’s mistake led to a violent chain reaction that took out Garrett Gerloff, Remy Gardner, Iker Lecuona, Ryan Vickers and the Barni Ducati teammates Danilo Petrucci and Yari Montella.
Amazingly, all bar 3 riders took the restarted 20-lap race but 3 have been declared unfit for action in tomorrow’s pair of races. Gardner, Lecuona and Vickers missed the restart and although the latter is fit to ride again, Gerloff has been grounded after a valiant effort under duress that saw him salvage 9th.
On the thankfully clean restart Razgatlioglu was challenged by Andrea Locatelli but the BMW rider quickly cemented his lead. Locatelli had stolen the lead on the original start but in the 2nd running was immediately pressured by Sam Lowes.
Having qualified off the front-row of the grid for the 1st time this year and after losing the championship lead to Razgatlioglu last time out in Donington Park, Nicolo Bulega had his work cut out but swiftly made his way forwards. As has happened before this year, by the time Bulega cemented 2nd place, his title rival was several seconds clear and the Ducati frontman had to bank the points for runner-up spot.
The Ducati that arguably could have finished 2nd was Sam Lowes. The MarcVDS rider had passed Locatelli for 2nd after 5 laps but promptly lost the front-end at turn 2 just as he began to lap slightly quicker than Razgatlioglu.
Just like a fortnight ago in Donington Park, a solid result went begging for the despondent Brit but his front-row qualifying and leading pace has at least been promising to see. His exit undoubtedly made Bulega’s rise to 2nd place easier.
Despite Locatelli’s best efforts in another race where he was clearly the best Yamaha, the Italian fell behind Bautista into 4th just before the halfway point. The factory Ducati duo had shown pace to move forward from their starting positions of 4th and 7th respectively but there was not enough pace to catch Razgatlioglu and the order was clearly settled by half-distance barring any disasters.
Locatelli finished ahead of Petrucci and the latter still holds 3rd in the championship ahead of Bautista thanks to a great recovery drive having been caught in the turn 2 melee. Alex Lowes ran Petrucci close before a crucial mistake in the closing laps saw him cede position while Rea slipped back into the frenetic battle for 7th.
There was contact and frequent position changes in the duel over 7th between Montella, Gerloff and Xavi Vierge but Rea took himself out at turn 1 with 6 laps to go. To add insult to injury, the Yamaha rider then slid out at the fast turn 4 after rejoining to continue his nightmare 2025 season.
Axel Bassani joined the fight at the bottom of the top-10 as Iannone recovered to 13th after falling out of the points-paying positions following his long-laps. Tomorrow will be a historic day for the championship as it celebrates a millennium of races at the Hungarian Round that has so far gone all Razgatlioglu’s way.
Race 1 Results
- Image Credit: WorldSBK
Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK
