As the race settled down, Bautista and Rinaldi were both able to gap Razgatlioglu in first and second place respectively to claim a home victory for Ducati on a special liveried Panigale V4 R.

WorldSBK Gallery: All The Best Shots From 2023

By Bike Review • 12 months ago

Dec
2023

It's been an amazing season for Álvaro Bautista in the 2023 World Superbike Championship, the Spanish rider claimed his second world championship! Check out all the best shots below...

What an amazing season it has been for Ducati across multiple international championships. Álvaro Bautista came out victorious for 2023 on his Aruba.it Ducati V4 R in the World Superbike Championship. Check out all the best shots!

2023 WorldSBK Championship Standings (Full Standings Here)

1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 628
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 552
3. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 370
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) 327
5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 251

Race Two Podium at Phillip Island, Round One 2023… Bautista scores the hattrick for Ducati!

An incredible move at Turn 3 allowed Bautista to claim victory using the #1 plate after a wet first race of the year in Australia started the season in style.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took 12th on his WorldSBK debut on home soil, finishing ahead of teammate Dominique Aegerter in 13th.

Bautista started from second place but got the holeshot at the start of the race before being passed by Rea, who took his 378th WorldSBK start in Race 1 and moved ahead of Troy Corser at Turn 10 on the opening lap of the race.

A delayed start to Race 1 in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship provided plenty of drama as rain came down before the start of the race.

Behind the leading duo, it was a bit of a lonely race for polesitter Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) as he finished in third place but six seconds down on Bautista.

Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) was another who gained places throughout the race as he took seventh place.

Six-time Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took seventh spot after he lost time and positions on the opening lap after he was forced wide by Dominique Aegerter.

The Spaniard claimed his second win of the round with a superb ride in the Superpole Race, while Jonathan Rea finished seventh.

Tissot Superpole Podium at Phillip Island, Round One 2023…

Sunday saw Bautista become the most successful WorldSBK rider in history at Phillip Island with his eighth victory at the iconic circuit...

Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) was able to fight his way up to sixth place behind Oettl and Bassani while double WorldSSP Champion Dominique Aegerter.

Razgatlioglu looked to make a move around the outside of Lowes heading into Turn 4 on Lap 17. Lowes lost the front of his ZX-10RR machine heading into Miller Corner, the right-hand hairpin, which collected Razgatlioglu.

Behind the two Ducati riders, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) claimed his first podium of the season with third place.

Back on the grid for the WorldSBK stop at Assen, there was much room for upside to be gained from Remy Gardner's weekend, as he continued making headway in his rookie term in the class.

Toprak could finally be back on track as he takes a third place finish in Race One at Assen.

Rea crashed out in the first half of the race, promoting Bassani to third.

The battle for the lead involved Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the early stages of the race with all three taking their chance to lead throughout the race.

Bassani was fifth at the end of the race, ahead of Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team), who passed Lowes and Redding in the closing stages, in sixth.

Rea’s second place was his 247th in WorldSBK, as well as his 24th at Assen which puts the track level with Aragon and Portimao.

Reigning Champion Alvaro Bautista battled his way back from fourth on the grid to claim Race 1 victory in the Netherlands ahead of Rea and Razgatlioglu.

History was made in WorldSBK at the TT Circuit Assen as Ducati claimed their 400th WorldSBK win after Alvaro Bautista’s hat-trick.

The shortened Tissot Superpole Race in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was a fierce fight between Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

As the race approached the final few laps, Bautista started to pull out a gap over Rea to claim victory in the Superpole Race and claim first on the grid for Race 2.

As the lights went out, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) got the holeshot to lead into Turn 1 before Rinaldi battled his way through on his teammate at Turn 4 to move into second.

Bautista’s victory gave him his 46th win in WorldSBK and is now on a streak of 10 consecutive wins in WorldSBK, while he also has 14 wins in 15 races this season with his fourth hat-trick of the season.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) went head to head with Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

WorldSBK Misano Tissot Superpole.

Alvaro Bautista and Michael Ruben Rinaldi gave the Italian fans something to cheer by taking a race one Ducati 1-2 at Misano.

Razgatlioglu had to withstand some early pressure from Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) but the 2021 Champion was able to resist that pressure before pulling out a gap over his rivals.

As the lights went out for the 20-lap race, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Rinaldi looked to have got a better start compared to Bautista but the reigning Champion was able to hold on.

Rea racked up his 252nd podium, while Razgatlioglu and Rea have now shared the podium 75 times together.

Toprak Razgatlioglu denied Axel Bassani an emotional maiden victory but gained 25 points on Alvaro Bautista as the reigning Champion crashed out.

On Lap 8, Bassani made his move on Razgatlioglu for first. He looked to overtake into the Villeneuve chicane first but that didn’t work out, before he went up the inside of his rival at the left-hand hairpin of Tosa.

Razgatlioglu was able to claim his 36th career win and his 102nd podium, while it was also Yamaha’s 410th rostrum in World Superbike.

Bautista took his 77th podium while Locatelli resisted Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the second half of the race for his 12th podium.

The Turk was able to hold on despite last-lap pressure from the defending Champion to claim his third win of the season and close the gap in the Championship standings by three points.

The Superpole Race was a stunning affair in Italy as Razgatlioglu beat Bautista by just 0.244s to secure a hard-fought Superpole Race win.

The reigning Champion battled hard for victory at Imola as he edged closer to history while Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed his 100th podium on Saturday.

Second gave Razgatlioglu his 100th WorldSBK podium and his 16th consecutive rostrum finish; the joint sixth-longest all-time streak.

There was little to separate the pair throughout the first two-thirds but an error from the Turk allowed Bautista to pass him on the run down to Rivazza 1.

The opening laps were a sensational fight in front of the passionate Italian fans as two Italian riders led their first laps of the season.

Rea was able to go with the wet tyre runners in the opening laps while other intermediate riders dropped down, including Razgatlioglu, before battling back.

WorldSBK MOST Race One.

Scott Redding (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) also didn’t stop as he claimed fourth place despite starting from the pitlane.

The opening laps proved to be beneficial for the wet tyre runners with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) storming away from fourth on the grid to have a six second lead over Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) at the end of Lap 2.

The pace dropped rapidly as the track quickly dried with Bassani lapping as much as four seconds quicker than Gardner behind him, expanding his lead to more than 10 seconds by the time Lap 4 concluded.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) concluded the strongest weekend of his WorldSBK career with sixth as he finished three seconds down on Rinaldi.

WorldSBK MOST Race Two.

The Spaniard put Razgatlioglu under relentless pressure before the #54 crashed on Lap 17 at Turn 3 to hand Bautista a 25-point swing in the title race.

Bautista didn’t get away well from the line as the lights went out but still found himself into the lead heading into Turn 1, before he tried to pull out a gap.

The win was his 50th in WorldSBK, but it was also a historic one: the 18th win of his season means he has now won more races in one season than any other rider.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) secured third after making gains before an early-race fight with teammate Alex Lowes, who initially passed the six-time Champion at Turn 5 for third, before falling behind the Ulsterman. It was Rea’s 257th WorldSBK podium.

There was drama everywhere you looked in France was the title battle closed up again with Razgatlioglu winning ahead of Bautista.

The #65 looked to overtake his rival on Lap 3 through Turn 4 and into Turn 5 but the Yamaha star cut back, before Rea made a similar move on Lap 6 and made it stick.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) bounced back to claim victory in Race 2 at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours as he took advantages of his rivals battling behind him.

Two laps later and the two Champions were side-by-side throughout much of the lap, with Razgatlioglu holding on to second place before Rea tried another move a lap later.

Razgatlioglu now has 107 podiums to his name, only two fewer than Carl Fogarty, while Rea’s moved onto 259 podiums.

The #1 put in a series of race lap records to close the gap to his title rival but the 2021 Champion claimed victory by a second to become the first rider to win four consecutive races at Magny-Cours.

Six-time Champion Rea withstood a late charge from Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) to claim third and his 258th podium and his 20th at the iconic French venue.

A race that will live long in the memory: Bautista victorious in unbelievable Razgatlioglu fight with 38 passes for the lead in the final 10 laps, Rea tumbles on Kawasaki farewell.

Razgatlioglu came home in second despite his valiant efforts in the early stages of Race 1, with the Turk finishing just over a second behind the now double WorldSBK Champion, with the #54 immediately congratulating his rival.

Bautista got the holeshot when the 20-lap race got underway and immediately looked to pull out a gap over his rivals.

After an impressive Tissot Superpole performance, Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) crashed out at Turn 8.

The Spanish rider needed just two points to become a back-to-back WorldSBK Champion and he duly did so in Race 1 with victory.

The two-time Champion continued his stunning form with victory in the 8-lap race…

Tissot Superpole Jerez.

Later on that lap, at Turn 13, Bautista looked for a move on the inside before the Yamaha cut back to stay ahead on the start-finish straight.

Tissot Superpole Jerez.

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