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It was a tough weekend for Toprak Razgatlıoğlu at the eighth round of the FIM Motul World Superbike Championship. Despite scoring two second places there last season, the Catalunya circuit hasn’t been a happy hunting ground for the Turkish ace; he injured himself in a Warm-Up crash in 2020, missing the day’s races. And last year, while on course to score his first ever wet weather victory in Race 1, technical gremlins struck forcing him to retire.

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A difficult Superpole session which left him languishing down in eighth was unfortunately a pre-cursor of things to come. In typical fashion, in Race 1 Toprak made up seven positions from the start as he utilised his formidable braking prowess to slot into second place behind Aruba.it Racing’s Alvaro Bautista into Turn 1.

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He gave chase in the early stages, but Bautista’s relentless pace was too much for Razgatlıoğlu’s rear tyre to cope with as the race wore on. Indeed, with a handful of laps remaining he was left defenceless as he was caught and passed by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), Garret Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Arubi.it Racing), crossing the line in a distant and disappointing fifth.

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A launch control issue at the start of the Superpole sprint race meant the the No.1 Pata Yamaha was swallowed up by the mid-pack as the riders entered Turn 1. In typically combative fashion, ‘El Turco’ forced his way back up to sixth place as the race entered its second lap. But he was unable to match the pace of the front three of Bautista, Rea and the second KRT bike of Alex Lowes. Bautista once again took the honours.

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Weary of what happened to his rear tyre in Race 1, the reigning champion took a more measured approach in Race 2. Accepting that Bautista was uncatchable, he made a steady start and in the early stages was happy to keep a watching brief behind Rinaldi, Rea and Alex Bassani (Motocorsa Racing).

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At the halfway stage Toprak decided to make his move as he overtook both Rea and Bassani but Rea re-grouped and ducked underneath Razgatlıoğlu into Turn 1 at the beginning of Lap 13. The Ulsterman set about chasing down Rinaldi and indeed caught the Italian, only to run wide at Turn 7, undoing all his good work with just over three laps to go. And despite pressure from Toprak, Rinaldi held his nerve and backed up team leader Bautista to make it an Arubi Ducati 1-2.

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‘Stoprak’ returned to the podium but with Bautista sweeping all before him with a full house of victories across the two days, the Yamaha rider's championship aspirations took a big hit with Bautista extending his points advantage over the Turk from 30 points to 59.

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For full race results please visit the WorldSBK/WorldWSS Results page: