Toprak Razgatlioglu wins the 2021 World Superbike Championship!

Toprak Razgatlioglu is the new 2021 World Superbike champion after finishing second behind Jonathan Rea in race one at Mandalika.

Razgatlioglu’s championship win sees him become the first rider to beat Rea to the WorldSBK title since 2015.

For the second time this weekend WorldSBK race one was delayed as rain began to fall moments before the scheduled start. However, the delay was a short one this time around as racing finally got going 15 minutes after it was expected to do so.

Before the race began, Razgatlioglu suffered a big moment on the sighting lap as he momentarily lost the rear at turn one and came close to a highside. 

After completing their sighting lap every rider looked set to change to intermediate tyres, but that was not the case as they stayed on slicks, despite a damp track.

Once the race got going it was Rea who made a brilliant start and took the lead before turn one.

Razgatlioglu was initially pushed down to fourth, but the Yamaha rider quickly recovered third and second place off Garrett Gerloff and Scott Redding. Oliver Konig suffered a crash on lap two which was enough to end his debut WorldSBK race.

Razgatlioglu was looking menacing behind Rea on lap two before making his way into the lead at the beginning of lap three - turn 1.

Axel Bassani, who clinched his maiden WorldSBK podium in wet conditions got through on Redding for third during lap three.

Bassani then took second position off Rea at turn 12, while Razgatlioglu continued to lead a group of six. Bassani’s incredible first few laps got even better as he took the lead from Razgatlioglu at turn ten. 

Rea followed Bassani through before taking the lead at turn 15. The Kawasaki didn’t have the Italian between him and his title rival for long as Razgatlioglu came through on Bassani at turn one - lap seven. 

As conditions began to improve, Rea and Razgatlioglu set back-to-back fastest laps as the Yamaha rider closed in on Rea. With the pace getting quicker, Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark struggled to stay with the top four of Rea, Razgatlioglu, Bassani and Redding.

A stunning move from Razgatlioglu saw him regain the lead on lap ten. The championship leader looked to have run into turn ten too hot, however, Razgatlioglu dived to the inside and made the overtake stick. 

Rea and Razgatlioglu exchanged the lead once again on lap 11, but it was the 24 year-old who maintained first place. Meanwhile, Redding was up to third as Bassani started falling back from the top three.

Redding then took second off Rea at turn 15 - the same corner where Rea had previously done all his overtaking. Redding then took the lead as Razgatlioglu made a mistake at turn 15 which caused him to run off-track. The error from Razgatlioglu dropped him to third and behind Rea.

Razgatlioglu was over a second down on Redding and Rea due to his mistake, before Rea eventually took the lead from the Ducati man on lap 17. 

Redding seemed to be struggling once Rea got through as Razgatlioglu rapidly closed in. The Yamaha rider’s pace advantage then turned into P2 after getting past Redding at turn one to elevate himself back into a championship winning position. 

Razgatlioglu began catching Rea with two laps to go, however, it wasn’t enough as Rea held on for the win. Redding came home third, while WorldSBK rookies for the last weekend in 2021 Andrea Locatelli and Bassani rounded out the top five. 

Razgatlioglu joins MotoGP star Fabio Quartararo in winning world titles during the same season for Yamaha, while it’s also the first time a Yamaha rider has won the Superbike title since 2009 (Ben Spies) - coincidently that was another year where both the MotoGP and WorldSBK title went to Yamaha riders as Valentino Rossi claimed the last of his nine world titles. 

Before Saturday’s qualifying took place Alex Lowes was declared unfit after suffering an AC joint injury following a highside crash in FP3.

WorldSBK FP3 took place without Team HRC rider Leon Haslam after it was confirmed that the British rider would take no further part in his final weekend as a world championship rider due to a shoulder injury.