Toprak Razgatlioglu continued his dominant form to take victory in the WorldSBK Superpole Race at Estoril.
The BMW rider proved to be unstoppable after taking the lead following a poor getaway, holding off Nicolo Bulega throughout the race to reign supreme.
In a similar fashion to Race 1, it was Alvaro Bautista who took the holeshot into Turn 1 from third, but team-mate Bulega gained the lead into Turn 2.
Razgatlioglu was stuck behind Bautista’s Ducati for the first half of the first lap, but he made a move a move before catching up to Bulega as he took the lead into Turn 1 on Lap 2.
The Yamaha duo of Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli got a perfect getaway, rising to fourth and fifth respectively, with Rea moving up to third at Turn 9. However, Bautista responded by reclaiming third into Turn 1 on Lap 3, showcasing Ducati’s superiority.
The championship contenders formed a 1.6s advantage over the field by Lap 4, but in similar fashion to Race 1, Bautista and Rea contested for the final podium spot for the first part of the race.
Rea was unable to forge an overtake on Bautista as his team-mate Locatelli wedged through into Turn 1 at the halfway mark.
Further behind, Yari Montella crashed out at Turn 7 on the Barni Spark Ducati, but he later rejoined in dead last.
Behind the lead duo there was a close and intense battle between Bautista, the Pata Maxus Yamaha duo, Bimota’s Alex Lowes and Honda’s Xavi Vierge.
The gap between all four riders was under a second, but barring any mistake from Bautista, he had positioned his Ducati well enough to maintain the advantage over the cluster.
GoEleven’s Andrea Iannone entered the fold as he overtook Vierge to rise to seventh at Turn 6.
However, in the following corner on Lap 8, Rea crashed out of contention, which in turn compromised his starting position for Race 2.
Lowes tried to overtake Locatelli at Turn 1 on the final lap, but he ran in too hot and crashed out of proceedings.
Razgatlioglu’s victory marked his 21st race win of the season, winning by over a half second margin.
Bulega finished second once again but wasn’t able to produce the goods to challenge his championship rival.
Bautista sealed third place once again to ensure another double Ducati podium finish.
Locatelli claimed fourth spot, ahead of Iannone and GRT Yamaha rider Remy Gardner, who delivered strong results for their respective satellite teams.
Vierge finished in seventh for Honda HRC, followed closely behind Bimota rider Axel Bassani and BMW’s Michael van der Mark.
Iker Lecuona rounded off the top 10, ahead of the departing Ryan Vickers and Kawasaki’s Garrett Gerloff.
Tarran Mackenzie and Bahattin Sofuoglu battled it out, but the Bonovo Ducati rider claimed 13th place.
Despite his crash on the final lap, Bimota’s Lowes claimed 15th place.
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