Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea on the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR, which was formally neutered by the FIM commissioners just a few days before the start of the season, which meant that the two teammates often had to go too far to keep up with their opponents (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

The Superpole: Sykes ahead of Toprak & Rea with, for the first time, not pole

After the two main rivals remained evenly balanced in the title fight on Friday, Toprak Razgatlioglu was just ahead of the game in FP2. The Turk was only able to undercut the best time of Kawasaki ace Jonathan Rea from the first free practice session by 0.05 seconds. So the starting position for Saturday seemed completely open. But according to the weather forecast, rain was predicted with a probability of about 90%. Under these conditions, the current world championship leader on his Yamaha was considered to have almost no chance of a top ranking. On Saturday morning it stayed dry, at least in qualifying. For the first time after eight pole positions in a row, Jonathan Rea will not start from first place this time, but his former teammate Tom Sykes on the BMW M-1000RR ahead of Razgatlioglu and the reigning world champion. However, if it doesn’t rain in the afternoon, everyone expects the Huddersfield man to lose a lot of places.

Lucas Mahias in the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Box – the fast Frenchman lost almost a second in FP1 to fellow Kawasaki brand colleague Johnny Rea (© Kawasaki Racing Team).

The interviews after Superpole
It is very important, said Jonathan Rea to the front row, and he agrees with 3rd place so far. Above all, it will be important to cover the distance in the afternoon at these temperatures, as he noted, alluding to the tires that are likely to wear off. Tom Sykes was of course overjoyed to take the first pole position of the season after his crash on Friday. His bike would have worked perfectly. But first you have to wait and see how things go in the race, and the weather could also play a role if it was still damp. Toprak told us, he was satisfied with second position, and he is very happy. But now it’s about being up front in the race, and after these two sentences the taciturn Turk disappeared again.

The Superpole in numbers with the starting grid for the first two races

Supersport 600 races with a surprise winner in the rain
Toprak frowned as he watched the heavy rain set in, 13 laps before the end of the WorldSSP run. While Razgatlioglu had to hope that it would dry off again for the WSKB race and not get wet again, it was Randy Krummenacher who took command in the middle class in the middle of the race. The Swiss represented Luca Bernardi in the CM Racing Yamaha team for the first time, and before Steven Odendaal he chased after his first podium at the Circuito de Cataluña since 2007. Back then, when we saw one of many visits to the Catalan Grand Prix, 3rd place in the 125 cm³ category. It remained his only podium in GP Sport before switching to the prototypes for the 2016 season.

Tough fight for second place on the last lap
Behind the victorious Krummenator, it was Manuel Gonzalez who crossed the finish line in second, ahead of Raffele de Rosa. Steven Odendaal saw the chequered flag in fourth behind the Italian, but had to tremble about his placement due to a penalty. The South African was therefore only ranked 8th, which meant he lost important points in the fight for the world title, which he could have made up for the absent Dominique Aegerter. The Swiss competed for the World Cup in MotoE on the same weekend, but will definitely keep the lead in the interim classification with a certain margin even after the Barcelona round.

The surprising podium of the WorldSSP 600 with from left Manuel Gonzalez (P2), winner Randy Krummenacher (both Yamaha) and Raffaele de Rosa (Kawasaki).

The interviews after the Supersport 600 race
Raffaele de Rosa was overjoyed after 3rd place. The Italian spoke of a difficult race with changeable conditions after it got dry again towards the end. A beaming Randy Krummenacher thanked all his sponsors, the team and everyone who supported him. He had a great feeling on his Yamaha and could just push and enjoy the ride. Manuel Gonzalez saw rain on the first lap and therefore quickly fell back on the slick tires. But in the end, despite the very difficult conditions, it went really well with second place, and he will try to win on Sunday.

The WorldSSP 600 race in numbers

Supersport 600 World Championship stand

P, Rider, Points, Bike
1. DOMINIQUE AEGERTER 302 YAMAHA
2. STEVEN ODENDAAL 248 YAMAHA
3. PHILIPP OETTL 189 KAWASAKI
4. MANUEL GONZALEZ 178 YAMAHA
5. LUCA BERNARDI 161 YAMAHA
6. JULES CLUZEL 140 YAMAHA
7. RANDY KRUMMENACHER 109 YAMAHA
8. CAN ALEXANDER ONCU 103 KAWASAKI
9. FEDERICO CARICASULO 103 YAMAHA
10. RAFFAELE DE ROSA 93 KAWASAKI
11. NIKI TUULI 69 MV AGUSTA
12. HANNES SOOMER 57 YAMAHA
13. CHRISTOFFER BERGMAN 46 YAMAHA
14. MARC ALCOBA 40 YAMAHA
15. KEVIN MANFREDI 31 YAMAHA
16. PETER SEBESTYEN 28 YAMAHA
17. GALANG HENDRA PRATAMA 24 YAMAHA
18. VERTTI TAKALA 23 YAMAHA
19. SIMON JESPERSEN 20 YAMAHA
20. ANDY VERDOIA 14 YAMAHA
21. LOIC ARBEL 10 YAMAHA
22. MARCEL BRENNER 10 YAMAHA
23. STEPHANE FROSSARD 10 YAMAHA
24. VALENTIN DEBISE 9 YAMAHA
25. SHERIDAN MORAIS 9 YAMAHA
26. DAVID SANCHIS MARTINEZ 8 YAMAHA
27. MARIA HERRERA 7 YAMAHA
28. GLENN VAN STRAALEN 6 YAMAHA
29. FILIPPO FULIGNI 6 YAMAHA
30. MICHEL FABRIZIO 6 KAWASAKI
31. MAX ENDERLEIN 5 YAMAHA
32. ROBERTO MERCANDELLI 5 YAMAHA
33. FEDERICO FULIGNI 5 YAMAHA
34. HIKARI OKUBO 4 KAWASAKI
35. MASSIMO ROCCOLI 4 YAMAHA
36. LUCA GRUNWALD 3 SUZUKI
37. MATTEO PATACCA 3 YAMAHA
38. UNAI ORRADRE 2 YAMAHA
39. DANIEL VALLE 2 YAMAHA
40. ONDREJ VOSTATEK 2 YAMAHA
41. LUDOVIC CAUCHI 1 YAMAHA
42. OSCAR GUTIERREZ IGLESIAS 1 YAMAHA
43. LUCA OTTAVIANI 1 KAWASAKI
44. LEONARDO TACCINI 1 KAWASAKI
45. DAVIDE PIZZOLI 1 YAMAHA
46. PAWEL SZKOPEK 1 YAMAHA

Heavy rain before the WorldSBK start

When the 5-minute sign for the pit lane to be closed is displayed, the pilots drive their inspection lap to the starting grid in pouring rain. Before the weekend in Montmelo, Toprak’s mentor Kenan Sofuoglu had made big comments about the gruelling tactics of him and Razgatlioglu to Rea. Now it was interesting to see how the Turk, known as rain-shy, was going to do this on a wet track. Toprak had been very lucky with the weather twice this season when, despite a different forecast, it had remained largely dry. But now the world looked anything but bright for him before the start of the first race in Barcelona.

For Garrett Gerloff, the race was already over in the sighting lap – the US boy destroyed his Yamaha R1 on a highsider and had to forego the start of the first race.

The initial phase with an outstanding reigning world champion
After the start, Rea was only sixth at first, but was already leading from Toprak after the first lap. He then had to defend himself in a tough duel against Axel Bassani. Rinaldi, Lowes, van der Mark, Haslam, Locatelli, Sykes and Redding followed. After 5 of 20 laps, the Kawasaki driver was 2.5 seconds ahead of Bassani, who continued to fight Razgatlioglu in a remarkable duel. A little later, van der Mark and Lowes passed fourth-placed Rinaldi and Leon Haslam followed closely behind. The HRC Honda driver had set the fastest lap shortly before that. Behind Scott Redding in front of Tom Sykes, Andrea Locatelli, Alvaro Bautista and Lucas Mahias.

When the track dried out – it got exciting again and shortly thereafter dramatically
When the conditions got drier again in the middle of the race, the Turk immediately felt more comfortable, and he was able to close the gap to Rea. When there were still 9 laps to go, he was in the lead for the second time after the first deal and behind that, Bassani also passed the Kawasaki ace a little later. While Bassani was pushing behind him, Toprak suddenly had to roll out his Yamaha, and that was the end of the race for the championship leader. Rea was overtaken by the advancing Rinaldi a little later, and now had Redding and van der Mark just behind him. The Ducati man also passed the reigning world champion’s Kawasaki, but he only had to finish in the top five in the last quarter of the race to take the lead in the world championship again.

The final with the Ducati three-way battle
On the third to last lap, Axel Bassani’s brand colleague Scott Redding took over the lead, followed by Michael Ruben Rinaldi. Johnny Rea, harassed by Michael van der Mark, followed with a respectful margin and tried with all his might to leave the Dutchman behind on the best BMW to the finish. A jubilant Scott Redding was the first to see the checkered flag, ahead of his Ducati colleagues Bassani and Rinaldi. But Rea was also satisfied with fourth place, which he saved from van der Mark. A devastated Toprak had just returned to his box and had to be comforted by his team first. Despite his best performance so far on a wet track, this time he even came away empty-handed and thus lost the lead in the world championship again to the Northern Irishman on the Kawasaki.

Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing Ducati Panigale V4R) before the start in only eleventh position, from where he then showed the best performance of his life so far and was able to fight for laps at eye level with the best of the WSBK.

The podium interviews after the first of 3 races in Barcelona
Michael Ruben Rinaldi was quite happy with 3rd place, but he wanted even more on Sunday, the Italian emphasized. Scott Redding didn’t want a Ducati to hit him, he said with a laugh. At some point in the course of the race, he would have said to himself that he could still make it to the front, after it hadn’t looked like it at the beginning. That’s exactly how it happened, and his joy after the sixth win of the season is of course huge. Axel Bassani spoke of a very difficult race on a slippery track, and of course he would have enjoyed the fight with Rea and Toprak very much. Now he is overjoyed with second place and of course he is very happy about the first WorldSBK podium of his career.

The first of 3 races in Catalonia in numbers

WorldSBK World Championship stand

P, Rider, Points, Bike
1. JONATHAN REA 376 KAWASAKI
2. TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 370 YAMAHA
3. SCOTT REDDING 323 DUCATI
4. ANDREA LOCATELLI 190 YAMAHA
5. MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 188 DUCATI
6. ALEX LOWES 186 KAWASAKI
7. TOM SYKES 167 BMW
8. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 165 BMW
9. GARRETT GERLOFF 147 YAMAHA
10. ALVARO BAUTISTA 122 HONDA
11. CHAZ DAVIES 120 DUCATI
12. AXEL BASSANI 120 DUCATI
13. LEON HASLAM 87 HONDA
14. LUCAS MAHIAS 44 KAWASAKI
15. TITO RABAT 38 DUCATI
16. KOHTA NOZANE 37 YAMAHA
17. ISAAC VINALES 22 KAWASAKI
18. CHRISTOPHE PONSSON 18 YAMAHA
19. JONAS FOLGER 14 BMW
20. EUGENE LAVERTY 14 BMW
21. LEANDRO MERCADO 9 HONDA
22. MARVIN FRITZ 6 YAMAHA
23. LORIS CRESSON 3 KAWASAKI
24. ANDREA MANTOVANI 2 KAWASAKI
25. LUKE MOSSEY 2 KAWASAKI

The schedule for the Catalan round in Barcelona

Once again the starting order was changed at short notice (WorldSSP before WorldSBK on Saturday) and we made this line-up for the foxes. It had been known for several months that the MotoGP would compete in Misano at the same time thanks to the terrible planning errors by FIM and Dorna. These last minute changes are continually being made to testify to the inability of these people to plan ahead.

>WSBK Barcelona preview see separate report on our site.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).