A late Nicolo Bulega retirement enabled Andrea Locatelli to claim his first WorldSBK victory at the Dutch round in Assen.
The Italian delivered Yamahas first win of the season as he crossed the line 2.9s clear of Alvaro Bautista.
Toprak Razgatlioglu started from pole position after his Superpole race success earlier in the day, and he briefly had the lead into Turn 1.
Bautista claimed the lead at Turn 2, as he, Razgatlioglu, Remy Gardner and Andrea Locatelli distanced themselves from the rest of the paddock.
A minor Turn 16 error from the pole sitter resulted in Bautista building a 0.5s advantage, before Gardner pounced to climb up to second place.
10th starter Nicolo Bulega held position after the first two laps before completing a move on Bimotas Alex Lowes.
Locatelli scooped his way through Razgatlioglu at BMWs weakest sector on the track, sliding his way through at the famous last sector.
Sam Lowes dropped from second to seventh after the first lap, losing multiple positions in similar style to the earlier race, but formulated key moves on Dutch favourite Michael van der Mark and GoEleven’s Andrea Iannone to climb up to fifth spot.
Gardner closed in on Bautista to only a few bike lengths and displayed the quickest pace earlier on, but found no extra advantage to take the lead just yet.
Bulega smashed in back-to-back impressive laps and passed Bimotas Axel Bassani and Iannone to rise up to sixth place, before dispatching Marc VDS rider Lowes on Lap 5.
The top seven were separated by under 1.5s and the championship leader’s purple patched continued, producing an impressive lunge on Razgtalioglu for fourth place.
Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Locatelli made light work of Gardner to become Bautista’s nearest challenger, but the Spaniard controlled the race from the front.
The lack of pace of the BMW was even more evident as Razgatlioglu demoted himself to sixth place.
Bautista lost his lead to Locatelli at the end of Lap 7 before his team-mate made a move, demoting the 40-year-old to third.
The leading pack of seven riders were still separated by under two seconds, as only a few tenths separated all riders in lap times.
Bulega took the lead for the first time as he lunged his way past Locatelli on his inside line, but could only muster half a second advantage two laps after his successful move.
GRT Yamaha rider Gardner capitalised on a Bautista mistake to claim the final podium space, but his lack of straight-line speed allowed his Spanish rival to overtake on Lap 14.
At the end of the leading group, Bassani slotted his way past Razgatlioglu at Turn 5, as BMWs tyre gamble of the harder compound failed to produce its magic.
Bulega and Locatelli established a second advantage over the rest of the field and were two standout competitors before the Italian duo spaced out further to a 1.5s gap by the end of Lap 15.
Bulega slowed down abruptly into Turn 1 with two laps to go, putting him out of contention for the win once again.
Locatelli secured his first win in the series to cap off an amazing achievement for the Japanese marque.
Bautista’s second place put him back into closer title contention, delivering factory Ducati another rostrum appearance.
Gardner produced an important podium, once again featuring in parc ferme after a year-long drought.
Lowes finished fourth for Marc VDS, as Bassani delivered fifth for Bimota after a difficult weekend for the series’ new entrant.
Alex Lowes completed the race in sixth spot, having overtaken lead Honda rider Iker Lecuona and Razgatlioglu in the last laps.
The BMW rider could only finish eighth place despite Bulega’s retirement but fended off a late challenge from Andrea Iannone and Yamahas Dominique Aegerter.
Danilo Petrucci finished 11th for Barni Spark Racing, as Xavi Vierge completed his race in 12th.
Yari Montella secured 13th spot to secure double points for Barni Spark, as the final two-point scoring positions went to Tarran Mackenzie and Bahattin Sofuoglu.
