Toprak Razgatlioglu put one hand on the 2025 Superbike World Championship trophy after winning race 1 at the EICMA Estoril Round, with there now being a possibility that the Turkish rider can win his third title in the class tomorrow if he outscores Nicolo Bulega by 21 more points – ahead of the Jerez finale next weekend.
Starting from pole position with a new lap record around Estoril, Razgatlioglu was pipped to turn 1 by his title rival Nicolo Bulega. However, five riders crashed and left a chaotic scene at the first corner that necessitated a red flag being flown by the end of the 1st lap.
The race was interrupted after Tetshuta Nagashima, Bahattin Sofuoglu, Axel Bassani and Michael van der Mark went down together at turn 1 without any serious injuries, while Tarran Mackenzie narrowly avoided going down after also being hit. Nagashima is a wildcard for Honda HRC this weekend, while Danilo Petrucci, Sam Lowes and Michael Ruben Rinaldi had all been declared unfit prior to the race.
All of the riders were thankfully able to restart the now 20-lap race. Razgatlioglu had a nightmare getaway dropping to 5th while Alvaro Bautista shot into the lead ahead of his teammate Bulega.
For Razgatlioglu, it was imperative that he passed the Yamaha duo Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea in case the Ducati duo escaped up front. However, the BMW rider made it back into the lead by as early as lap 3…
When Razgatlioglu moved clear of the Yamahas, Bulega and then Bautista by turn 1 on lap 3, he was able to immediately stretch his lead. Bulega had to battle past his teammate to stop Razgatlioglu blasting off into the distance, but the consequence of his move at turn 6 left Bautista vulnerable to Rea.
As has so often been the case in 2025, Razgatlioglu was able to control the pace and came home 2 seconds clear of Bulega. The gap had been stretched in the first half of the race and steadily came down in the second, but this may have been down to a tyre offset from a swtich made during the red-flag period and Razgatlioglu had enough in hand over the closing laps to respond to Bulega’s pace to give himself a narrow shot at wrapping up the championship after Race 2 tomorrow.
There was at least plenty of action in the battle for the final podium spot which eventually went to Bautista. On lap 8, Rea made a mistake by running wide at the first corner but was able to close right back up to Bautista, with the latter then slipping up on lap 12.
Bautista’s error just after half distance allowed Alex Lowes to close in for the podium battle. Thankfully for the Ducati rider Lowes slowed down Rea’s assault and Bautista was able to come home 2 seconds clear for 3rd place but a whopping 15 seconds down on the race leader.
Sadly for the outgoing Rea, there was to be no podium result as he slipped behind both Lowes and Locatelli on lap 15 of 20. On the following tour an impressive Locatelli got past Lowes into turn 1 to seal 4th while Bautista had gotten clear of the battle behind.
Xavi Vierge (who replaces the retiring Rea next season) nearly caught the bike that will soon be his and Andrea Iannone was right behind at the chequered flag. In 9th came Remy Gardner ahead of a charging Garrett Gerloff with Tito Rabat the other big mover from his starting spot.
Race 1 Results
Feature Image Credit: WorldSBK
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