WorldSBK riders reflect on Estoril R1 + WorldSSP/WCR reports/results

WorldSBK 2024 – Round 11
Estoril – Saturday

WorldSBK Rider Quotes

Toprak Razgatlioglu – P1

“The race was really difficult. We didn’t know what the weather would do, it’s been a bit strange, and also, we used a different tyre. All riders used the soft tyre, I used the SC0 standard. My pace was very strong. At the beginning of the race, I’m just waiting and watching. I’m not pushing immediately but started to build slowly. I did a good job and I’m very happy.

“At the end of the race, I felt like there was a little bit of tyre drop. I need to improve my bike because I wasn’t happy at some corners. Maybe we’ll use the soft tyre because I tried it for the race, it felt like a Q tyre; after using the SC0, the grip is completely different. This would’ve been a gamble for me because I didn’t know the tyre life, I used the SC0 because I know it. Tomorrow, the weather is much better, looks like it’ll be warmer, so I’ll use the soft one.”

Nicolò Bulega – P2

“The feeling was good from the start, even though I lost a lot of positions after Rea’s manoeuvre. The feeling was good, and I had much fun during the race. Catching Toprak was impossible today. We will try again tomorrow”.

Iker Lecuona – P3

“A crazy race! I made a good start and was able to pass some riders through the first turns to move in behind Xavi. I almost crashed coming into contact with Rinaldi which caused me to lose ground, but I recovered and was able to pass many riders. I felt very strong and knew I had a good level of performance today, but I still didn’t expect a podium as we didn’t have much dry track time to be able to understand the tyre life. So I tried to save the tyres in some places but also keep the pace. At the end, I thought let’s see if I can catch Locatelli and Bulega and then Andrea made a mistake and I was into P3. I couldn’t relax because I knew Alex (Lowes) was close behind me, but I worked hard to maintain my pace as I really wanted the podium. I’m so happy to have done it; when I got onto pit lane, I started to cry. It’s been a very hard year for me, with many injuries, and at times, I’ve even questioned whether I’m good enough to be here, to be honest. But I’ve worked hard, listened to all the people around me who are important to me, and race by race, we’ve been improving and building on our results. I knew the podium was within reach and we’ve finally done it today. I’m so happy and want to thank everyone on HRC and on the Team, my family, my girlfriend, my friends, including my manager, and all those who support me. I’m very happy.”

Alex Lowes – P4

“This Race has been a hard one, especially after my morning crash in Superpole. In the end I was on the limit to be there, the front was moving a bit but I tried to get right onto the back of Iker. I pushed on the last lap, in the first couple of sectors, but in T7 I went a bit wide so I said to myself, “OK, fourth is good today.” This track has been difficult this weekend because of the conditions. There have been a lot of crashes where there has not been a lot of warning before the crash. I think the grip is quite low on the track, which doesn’t help. After that, it was nice to get a good lump of points today and that was a solid ride, I think.”

Jonathan Rea – P5

“Overall, a positive Race 1! This was my best main race position with the Yamaha R1 in the dry so far, I gave everything and ended up only a couple of seconds from the podium. We were close but not close enough. It’s the first time all weekend that we’ve completed a lot of laps in the dry to gather some clear information to give back to our engineers to improve the package tomorrow. If I can come out on Sunday and take the maximum from our R1 then I will be happy! Today, I didn’t feel “perfect” on the bike but I think we can take some positive steps for tomorrow. It was tough to make a good race set up with the weather yesterday but now we have clear areas to work on and the aim is to be back enjoying the fight again.”

Xavi Vierge – P8

“First I want to congratulate Iker and his team; he did an amazing job and I’m happy for him and for Honda. We’ve been working so hard and are finally seeing results. As for me, I want to start by apologising to the team as I made a mistake in qualifying that prevented us from scoring a good grid position. The conditions were tricky and just as I started to push a little in the last few minutes, I lost the front and crashed. I got back on the bike and was again making a flying lap but then I saw the black flag and realized I should have pitted after my crash. Considering how well we were doing in testing here in August, I thought we had a chance to score a good result in the race today, but instead I felt I had very little rear grip and struggled with that throughout the race. By the last five or six laps the tyre was totally destroyed. We need to understand why and sort this out for tomorrow because the feeling had been good in yesterday’s dry FP2. The goal is to fix that so we can complete two good races tomorrow.”

Andrea Iannone – P9

“I’m quite satisfied, considering that we had no references in the end I managed to ride with similar pace to those in front. We collected important data, we definitely have to work in view of tomorrow and fix some aspects but we are optimistic.”

Andrea Locatelli – DNF

“After such a positive Superpole result even with difficult conditions in the wet, we were having a good race! But unfortunately, in Turn 7 I lost the front. We were pushing for the maximum, this is the most important thing we can do – to go on the limit and then I wanted to be able to bring home a podium result because it was something that we need, for the hard work that we do always, for the team and especially for myself. Honestly, it was just bad luck but this is sometimes racing. I can’t say anything more, I did the maximum from the beginning, I was riding with the fastest guys and fighting to stay in the podium positions. We need to keep looking forward, go on with our heads held high and try again tomorrow.”

Axel Bassani – DNF

“I only did six laps so it was a very short race for me. The start was not bad, and I was there in the front with the fastest guys. I was trying to stay on the same pace as them but I was struggling a lot. The bike was moving around and sliding. I arrived at T6 and unfortunately I lost the front during braking. It was a big crash but I am OK. I am sorry for the team, and tomorrow we will try to do better.”

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Danilo Petrucci – DNF

“I’m really disappointed because after this morning’s qualifying, I was hoping for a good race. I missed out on pole by a few hundredths due to a mistake at Turn 9, but I managed to lead the race from the start. However, after the first corner, I immediately felt that something was off: I didn’t have the same feeling as yesterday or this morning, several riders passed me, and I couldn’t fight back. I can’t even explain the crash because I was slower in that section than the previous lap. The data shows some unusual behavior from the bike, and we’re working to understand what happened.”

Alvaro Bautista – DNF

“Despite a good start, I must confess that right from the first laps, I felt I didn’t have the best feeling with the front. When I found myself in the second position and tried to push to stay close to Toprak, things got worse, and I crashed, losing the front”.

Remy Gardner – DNF

“That’s a disappointing way to finish our weekend, unfortunately. We struggled in the Superpole with tricky conditions and our starting grid position surely didn’t help us in Race 1. We were confident in the dry and I thought I could make a good comeback, but after just one lap I got involved in an incident and I crashed. Unfortunately, I have broken my wrist, which brings our weekend to an early end and probably the season with the final round only next week, which isn’t the way I wanted to finish the year.”

WorldSBK Race One Report

Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) failed to capitalise on his pole position as Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) claimed the hole shot ahead of Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha). Toprak was third on the opening lap as the Yamaha runners looked strong from the outset with Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) getting the better of the Turk for third.

Locatelli demonstrated his early race pace as he took the lead from Petrucci on lap 2, whilst further back, stable mates Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) battled for fifth.

It was a four-way fight for the podium spots out in front as Locatelli, Petrucci, Razgatlioglu and Rea exchanged positions. Bulega ran wide with 19 laps remaining after clashing with Rea, the Ducati man falling to eighth position and leaving him plenty of work to do.

With 17 laps remaining, Razgatlioglu made his move into first place ahead of Locatelli, whilst Bautista pushed up into third ahead of Petrucci and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Bautista showed good pace but Toprak had his measure, managing the gap as the race progressed. Bulega was working his way back up through the pack, chasing Locatelli for a podium position.

An early race crash for Australian Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) resulted in a left wrist fracture. A crash at Turn 7, on Lap 7 for Petrucci ended his streak of 12 races in the top five, and there was more drama as four laps later Bautista low sided on the entry to turn 9.  His teammate, Bulega moved into second shortly before Locatelli went down while in a podium position with 7 laps to go.

Razgatlioglu stormed to victory while Bulega recovered from his early mistake to take second.

An impressive ride from Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) put Honda back on the rostrum, achieving their first podium of the season, the first time since Mandalika last year.

British rider Alex Lowes secured fourth place ahead of Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha). Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) rounded off the top 6.

WorldSBK Race One Results

WorldSBK Superpole Results

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP Race One

Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) was dominant from the start as he led Championship leader Adrian Huertas (Aruba.it Racing) and title rival Stefano Manzi (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) into Turn one at Estoril on Saturday.

Early crashes for Spain’s Jorge Navarro (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Tom Edwards on Lap 1 cut short their first race of the weekend.

Chasing down the front trio was Frenchman Valentin Debise (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) with Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) close on his tail.

Montella displayed strong race pace throughout to romp to a clear win. Huertas and Manzi comfortably second and third.

Outside of the podium places, Debise and Mahias provided plenty of close racing action for the Portuguese spectators as they battled for fourth position. Debise showcased some impressive late race pace during the closing stages at the Estoril circuit as he made a significant gain towards a podium spot. His speed provided too much however, as he crashed at turn 1 with only four laps remaining. Despite returning to his bike and back into a points position, he once again ended up in the gravel with two laps to go and retired from the race.

Ten Kate Racing wrapped up the Teams’ Championship award, whilst Ducati claimed the all-important manufacturer’s championship, their second in a row.

Just missing out on a top three finish was Lucas Mahias, who led Federico Caricasulo (Motozoo ME AIR Racing) and Germany’s Marcel Schroetter (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) across the line to complete the top six.

Oli Bayliss was the only Aussie to see the chequered flag, picking up points in 12th place.

WorldSSP Race One Results

WorldSSP Championship Points

WorldWCR Race One

The opening WCR race of the weekend began in the dry only to conclude in pouring rain. Championship leader Ana Carrasco (Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team) and title contender Maria Herrera (Klint Forward Factory Team) battled tooth and nail for victory.

Herrera’s performance was particularly noteworthy considering she was forced to start the race from the back of the grid due to a technical issue. A lightning start and extremely impressive pace meant the Spaniard was back into the top three in the space of two laps.

Although the race began in dry conditions, rain returned with a vengeance with just five laps to go, the race red flagged on lap 8. Victory ultimately went to Carrasco, separated by just 0.082 of a second from Herrera. Snatching her fourth win of the season, Carrasco is the only rider to have reached the podium in every race held so far.

An impressive Beatriz Neila (Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha) stuck close to the two front runners, crossing the line just 0.17 of a second from race winner Ana to secure her second podium of the season.

Sara Sanchez (511 Terra&Vita Racing Team) did well to finish fourth. Deemed responsible for causing the Cremona incident that saw both herself and Herrera crash out while fighting for victory, Sanchez was required to serve a long lap penalty during this first race at Estoril, nevertheless placing inside the top five.

Having proved at ease in full wet conditions, Australian Tayla Ralph (TAYCO Motorsport) followed up her recent Cremona podium with a solid fifth-place finish at Estoril on Saturday.

Pakita Ruiz (PS Racing Team 46+1) and Roberta Ponziani (Yamaha Motoxracing WCR Team) closed within a second of each other to place P6 and P7 respectively, while Mallory Dobbs (Sekhmet Motorcycle Racing Team), Mexican rider Astrid Madrigal (ITALIKA Racing FIMLA) and Adela Ourednickova (DaftMotoracing by Smrz) rounded out the top ten.

Spain’s Sanchez will be the Race 2 polesitter on Sunday after setting the fastest lap time in Race 1. Sara will be joined on the front row by Neila and Herrera, with Carrasco taking the fourth spot.

P1 | Ana Carrasco | Evan Bros Racing Yamaha Team

“This is a special win as I suffered a serious injury at Estoril in the past and had not been back since, so I really wanted a good result here this year. It’s been difficult with the weather of course, as we’ve had to keep adapting the bike to suit, but I’m very happy with this result. I thought when the rain came that the race might be red-flagged and so I started to push harder for that very reason. We did well today, but Maria and I are still very close in the standings and so although I’ve extended my lead, there is still work to be done. We’ll have to be ready for everything again tomorrow in terms of the weather, but in any case, I’ll be doing all I can to be back on the podium.”

P2 | Maria Herrera | Klint Forward Factory Team

“What a race, starting from the back of the grid and then battling for the win! Something happened on the starting grid which meant I had to start from the back of the field but in the end, I had good confidence and feeling and was able to make up eighteen positions in the first lap. I was just unlucky at the end because I was leading when they red-flagged the race but the results were based on the previous lap and so I had to settle for second. An important result anyway, and we’re in a strong position heading into Race 2, as I know I can improve in certain sections of the track, and we’ll also start from the front row, unlike today.”

P3 | Beatriz Neila | Ampito / Pata Prometeon Yamaha

“I’m super happy, an amazing race for me. I was a little confused by the track conditions at first but in the end, I was able to stick with Ana and Maria and reach the podium. It’s important for me to have been able to keep pace with both of them today, as they have so much experience and I know I can learn from them. I will start race 2 from second on the grid tomorrow and think I’m in with the chance of another podium.”

WorldWCR Race One Results

WorldWCR Championship Standings