Danilo Petrucci earned his first-ever World Superbikes win at the new Cremona circuit, winning at his home race after a red flag ended proceedings with six laps left.
The Italian shared the podium with the Aruba.it Racing Ducati duo of Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista, with the latter recovering from 13th place in qualifying.
The race was underway in the blazing sun, and pole-sitter Bulega stormed off the line to lead into Turn 1.
The Ducati duo of Andrea Iannone and Petrucci, with Yamaha and Kawasaki riders Andrea Locatelli and Alex Lowes, all clashed back and forth for second to fifth spot in a chaotic opening lap.
Despite showing rapid pace in practice, Tito Rabat crashed out on the opening lap at high speed.
Petrucci cemented strong overtakes on Locatelli and Lowes by Lap 3 to place himself third.
Iannone made an audacious move on Bulega to take the lead. After securing the fastest lap, Iannone swooped on Bulega’s inside to take the lead, which caught the fellow Italian napping, allowing Petrucci to catch up.
Petrucci slotted his way through Bulega to take second, with the satellite Team GoEleven and Barni Spark Racing Team duo establishing an advantage ahead.
Petrucci pulled off a stunning move late on the brakes to force his way through passed Iannone, with the 33-year-old on a mission to claim his first win in the series.
Sam Lowes crashed out in Turn 3 on Lap 5 despite a strong qualifying earlier in the day.
Petrucci stretched out a half-second gap between himself and Iannone, with both riders displaying rapidly consistent pace.
Alvaro Bautista slowly worked his way up the grid following his disastrous qualification of 13th, but by Lap 7, he elevated himself up to 10th and was next eyeing up Dutchman Michael van der Mark.
British Superbikes champion Tommy Bridewell was presented with a wildcard for this weekend’s race, but he was penalised with a double long-lap penalty for a jump start.
Petrucci’s gap out front increased to one second on Lap 8, as Iannone heading into Turn 7 lost control of his Ducati and crashed out of proceedings.
This promoted factory Kawasaki rider Lowes to third, but he crashed out at Turn 7 himself two laps later.
Van der Mark and Bautista went to and fro for seventh place, with the double champion formulating an audacious move in Turn 4, which he made stick.
Lowes and Iannone’s retirement resulted in the Honda rider duo of Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge rising to third and fifth, respectively.
Niccolo Canepa stood in for the absent Jonathan Rea but his race ended abruptly after crashing out on Lap 13 in Turn 10.
With Petrucci and Bulega out at the front, the pair cemented an impressive advantage of six seconds over Lecuona and the ever-rising Bautista.
Locatelli’s Yamaha was no match to Bautista’s Ducati down the straights, which saw him secure fourth spot on Lap 14.
Bautista overtook Lecuona at the same spot the following lap, with no rival manufacturer being able to challenge Ducati’s breathtaking speed down the straights.
Petrucci formulated a 2.5s gap before the race ended abruptly with six laps to go due to technical issues.
Petrucci’s win puts him on an exclusive list to win in both MotoGP and World Superbikes, with his Superbikes win coming just months after a life-threatening motocross training accident.
Bulega and Bautista rounded off a complete Ducati podium, with the latter formulating an enthralling fight through the field to feature on the rostrum once more.
Lecuona provided Honda with a strong finish in fourth, ahead of Axel Bassani who rose up the field in the final laps prior to the red flag.
Honda’s Vierge and BMW Motorrad rider Van Der Mark finished sixth and seventh, with Bonovo Action BMW rider Garrett Gerloff and Michael Ruben Rinaldi finishing eighth and ninth.
Remy Gardner had a quiet race to finish 10th as he finished as lead Yamaha rider, with former British Superbikes rider Bradley Ray finishing ahead of factory Yamaha rider Locatelli.
BMW riders Scott Redding and Markus Reiterberger finished 13th and 14th, respectively, with the latter filling in for Toprak Razgatlıoğlu.
Alessandro Delbianco sealed the final point-scoring position to take 15th place.
