Toprak Razgatlioglu dominates in Donington! The BMW star celebrates his next win of the season and crosses the line in the first race with a lead of more than eleven seconds over second-placed Alex Lowes. Third place goes to Alvaro Bautista, who wins the internal duel against his team-mate Nicolo Bulega. The unlucky one of the day is Scott Redding, who had to say goodbye to the fight for the podium after a technical problem.
Jonathan Rea finished fifth, securing his best result for Yamaha. Behind him, Andrea Locatelli crossed the line, keeping Danilo Petrucci behind him. Domi Aegerter, Michael van der Mark and Remy Gardner completed the top 10.
The starting line-up: 1. Razgatlioglu, 2. Bulega, 3. Redding, 4. S. Lowes, 5. Aegerter, 6. Van der Mark, 7. Locatelli, 8. Rea, 9. A. Lowes, 10. Gardner, 11. Bautista, 12. Gerloff, 13. Petrucci, 14. Vierge, 15. Rinaldi, 16. Bassani, 17. Ray, 18. Lecuona, 19. Iannone, 20. Rabat, 21. Oettl, 22. Mackenzie, 23. Norrodin
This is how the race in Donington went:
BEGIN: BMW one-two! Razgatlioglu leads ahead of Scott Redding, Bulega doesn’t get off to a good start and falls back to P4. Locatelli overtakes for third place. Mackenzie crashes in the second sector.
Round 02/23: The top 4 are slightly ahead of Sam and Alex Lowes, who are being pursued by Michael van der Mark and Jonathan Rea. Rea moves past to 7th place. Bulega moves past Locatelli and is now third.
Round 03/23: Xavi Vierge also crashed, but is OK. Razgatlioglu opens up a gap and is now almost a second ahead of Scott Redding. Alvaro Bautista catches Jonathan for seventh place.
Round 05/23: Alex Lowes has managed to catch up with Locatelli and passes. Scott Redding brakes too late in the chicane in the last sector and goes through the emergency exit. He lets Bulega pass, who is now in second place.
Round 07/23: Sam Lowe’s ride! The rookie comes off the track in the first sector in a duel with Remy Gardner and crashes through the gravel. He manages to avoid a fall, but is therefore out of the race for points.
Round 08/23: Bulega remains in second place, just ahead of Redding and A. Lowes. Locatelli also still has a chance of making the podium. Bautista is sixth.
Round 10/23: Razgatlioglu has everything under control at the front. He is almost 5 seconds ahead of Bulega. Alex Lowes is now hanging on Scott Redding’s tail and preparing a maneuver.
Round 11/23: Lowes forces Redding into making a mistake. In the last two corners, Redding goes wide, Lowes takes advantage and passes. A duel for fifth place begins between Locatelli and Bautista.
Round 12/23: Bautista passes. The world champion is now fifth.
Round 13/23: Lowes is now also significantly faster than Bulega. He is already hanging on the Ducati rider’s exhaust and will probably attack soon. In turn eleven he performs an aggressive maneuver and pushes past Bulega.
Round 14/23: Bautista has closed the gap to Redding and Bulega. The three will now fight it out for the last place on the podium.
Round 17/23: Redding goes wide again! For the second time, he goes through the emergency exit after an overtaking maneuver. Alvaro Bautista had positioned himself on the inside this time.
Round 18/23: Redding has now lost some time. Andrea Locatelli, Jonathan Rea and Danilo Petrucci are battling just under a second behind him. It’s over for Redding! The Briton is out with a technical problem!
Round 19/23: Next incident! Bautista wants to overtake his teammate Bulega, who goes straight ahead in turn nine and takes the emergency exit, as Redding has already done twice. This will be something to talk about at Ducati after the race. Bautista is now third behind Razgatlioglu and Lowes.
Round 21/23: Rea and Petrucci pass Locatelli at turns nine and eleven. Rea is now fifth and heading for his best result for Yamaha.
Round 23/23: It’s the last lap, everything is clear at the front. Only the battle for P5 is still going on between Rea, Locatelli and Petrucci.
GOAL: TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU WINS! The BMW man dominated the first race in Donington at will and crossed the finish line with a lead of more than ten seconds. Alex Lowes finished second ahead of Alvaro Bautista, who completed the podium. Bulega finished fourth, followed by Rea, Locatelli and Petrucci. Aegerter, van der Mark and Gardner completed the top 10.