2023 Donington Park World Superbike - Race (2) Results

Alvaro Bautista restores his World Superbike superiority with victory in a restarted Race 2 at Donington Park, his 16th win of the season.

Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea both offered early resistance. The Yamaha star led until the halfway stage on his way to second, but Rea faded into the chasing pack and Danilo Petrucci emerged with a debut WorldSBK podium.

The race distance was reduced by one lap due to an earlier race-stopping accident for Michael Rinaldi, Tom Sykes and Loris Baz.

After a first Donington WorldSBK victory for Bautista on Saturday, Razgatlioglu halted the reigning champion’s 11-race win streak in the Sunday Superpole Race - which Rea led until the final lap.

The full-length Race 2 was expected to play back into Bautista and Ducati’s tyre perseveration, and the restart began perfectly for the reigning champion who turned pole into the holeshot.

But in a sign of the early barrage to come, Rea boldly fired his Kawasaki inside Bautista a few corners later at the Old Hairpin.

The #65 Kawasaki ran wide, but when Razgatlioglu launched his opening salvo at the Ducati with a late move at the Melbourne Hairpin, the Spaniard was forced to sit up and Rea also took advantage.

With Bautista’s invincibility broken in the Superpole Race, the Razgatlioglu-Rea roadblock ahead of the Spaniard stood stubbornly firm. Bautista running wide as he became increasingly eager to pass the Kawasaki and set his own superior pace.

The order remained Razgatlioglu, Rea and Bautista until Bautista squeezed under Rea into the Foggy Esses with 13 (of 22) laps to go.

Razgatlioglu was able to hold on in the short Superpole sprint, but Bautista’s superior grip was increasingly obvious as Race 2 continued.

The #1 machine made its first exploration for the lead into Turn 1 with 10 laps remaining. The Turkish star’s only chance was to instantly respond – which he did, into the Old Hairpin. But it was a temporary reprieve, Bautista repeating his Redgate pass and closing the Old Hairpin door.

Razgatlioglu kept pushing but Bautista was soon out of reach.

Attention then switched to the final podium place, with Rea now fending off team-mate Alex Lowes and Barno Ducati's Danilo Petrucci closing on them both.

The double MotoGP race winner passed Lowes with 5 laps to go, then snatched a debut WorldSBK rostrum from Rea at the Old Hairpin shortly after.

Scott Redding then demoted Rea to fifth, a position the BMW rider kept despite a counterattack from the Ulsterman.

The original race was red-flagged after a big accident on the opening lap involving Michael Rinaldi, Tom Sykes and Loris Baz.

Sykes was launched high into the air on the exit of Coppice, with Baz and Rinaldi caught up in the aftermath.

Baz escaped unscathed while Sykes sat up while receiving medical assistance.

Rinaldi’s condition caused the most concern, with the Italian remaining prone in the gravel trap before being taken by stretcher to a waiting ambulance.

All riders involved were subsequently described as ‘conscious’.

Round seven of the 2023 World Superbike championship takes place at Imola on July 14-16.

• Donington Park: 2023 World Superbike results

Donington Park has been resurfaced since the 2022 event, where Toprak Razgatlioglu took all three wins and eventual champion Alvaro Bautista suffered a rare retirement and managed just one podium.

Donington Park 2022:
Race 1 winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha
Superpole Race winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha
Race 2 winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha