. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR) could not be slowed down by a disadvantage by the FIM and won the first race of the WorldSBK in Aragon.

Looking back on the day of the first WorldSBK race in Aragon

Before the start, BMW’s hopes with the new M-1000RR rested almost entirely on Tom Sykes’ shoulders. Despite a handicap of only one test before the start of the season, Eugene Laverty was second-best in the Superpole with 12th place on the grid. The Frenchman Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) showed an equally impressive performance in qualifying with an almost identical starting position as the Northern Irishman, directly behind and ahead of the works drivers Locatelli (Yamaha) and van der Mark (BMW). The example of Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati) shows how little the times on Friday can say about the starting position. In FP2 as ninth in the top ten, the Italian was fourth from last in Superpole. Just two places ahead of him, BMW newcomer Jonas Folger with P18 and thus in a terrible starting position for his goal of finishing in the top ten.

The starting grid for the first WorldSBK race of the season in Aragon. Without a spectator with an entry ticket, but like in MotoGP with a few onlookers in the VIP area, whose sums of money were definitely considerable for this privilege.

The Superpole with only a few surprises
Since we were among the critics of BMW’s late start to the test, the result did not surprise us. Tom Sykes is always good for the front row. This is exactly what he did, while the remaining BMW drivers were only to be found in the second half of the ranking. Despite the speed handicap for the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR Ninja, a convincing Jonathan Rea together with Scott Redding on the best Ducati made it into the front row. Row 2 was made up of Alex Lowes (Kawasaki), Chaz Davies (Ducati) and Garrett Gerloff, he slipped in place of Yamaha brand colleague Toprak. Behind the two HRC Honda’s with Haslam and Bautista, as well as Ducati works driver Rinaldi. With his best lap cancelled, Toprak had been moved back to P10 to start the race with Rabat and Laverty.

Eugene Laverty (BMW) was the most positive surprise with starting position 12 – you have to keep in mind that he had only had one test on the new M-1000R and was still able to start ahead of works rider van der Mark and private rider Folger.

The first race of the season with numerous surprises

Right from the start, Rea took the lead from the pole and behind him Alex Lowes pulled past Redding and Sykes from the second row. Shortly thereafter, the Kawasaki duo led the closest pursuers with Redding, Davies, Sykes, Gerloff and Razgatlioglu by a little over a second. But Lowes had problems with his front in the second half of the race and had to back off. When Toprak, who had already moved forward on P3, passed the Englishman and Davies was on his neck afterwards, many already thought that the Kawasaki pilot would now be passed on. Far from it, the man from Lincoln did not give up and towards the end of the race he fought for second place with his knife between his teeth to go by. So the 100th victory of Johnny Rea with a Kawasaki one-two was finally a holiday.

Garrett Gerloff (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) – the Texan made a strong start, but then fell back significantly and had to settle for ninth place in the end. Nevertheless, he finished in 10th place ahead of rookie Andrea Locatelli on the works Yamaha.

No Ducati on the podium – Tom Sykes best BMW
In the beginning everything looked great for Scott Redding and most observers saw him from the beginning and especially from now on as an almost certain podium candidate. But the Englishman should lose ground early and fell behind Toprak Razgatlioglu on the fifth lap and a little later he was also conceded by Chaz Davies. It was even worse for Tom Sykes at the beginning, who was already passed from P4 to seventh on the first lap. But Redding and Sykes should still end up being the best for their maker. Missing the podium wasn’t on plan for either of them, however, with Scotty just two and a half tenths missing in the end.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) on his debut as a Ducati works rider – the young Italian remained well below expectations with seventh place after a win in the previous year on the same track and was only the third-best Ducati rider.

The BMW team result was an absolute debacle
Judging by the comments made by BMW before the start of the season, however, the first race was a complete debacle for Sykes. This was particularly true because van der Mark had not even made it into the top ten and Laverty had retired with a technical defect. In addition, Jonas Folger played anything but a defining role on the first two days and with the outcome of the opening race. In the end, the German even missed the points instead of finishing in the top ten as hoped. All in all, it looked as if the blue-whites were now paying the price for their late entry with their test program, compared to all of their competitors.

Chaz Davies (GoEleven Ducati) became fifth and is now with 7 successes together with Jonathan Rea only joint record winner on the Motorland Aragon. The Welshman missed the podium by just over 6 tenths.

Gerloff, the Hondas and others also fell short of expectations
The US boy was initially still on track and in the third round he was in the promising sixth place. But then things went backwards and in the second half of the race, Bautista first and then Sykes and Rinaldi passed him. The Spaniard later crashed his Honda, but his team-mate Leon Haslam managed to get past the Texan. At least Gerloff was still clearly ahead of Yamaha works driver Locatelli with P9, but of course this was no consolation for him. While Honda had to be content with only eighth place, the results of Laverty and Rabat were also very disappointing. But the two could not do anything for their failure, because technical reasons were responsible for it.

Tom Sykes in front of Eugene Laverty – the two BMW colleagues were still in the same team last year and now the man in the back is a private driver, and he was able to test it before the race weekend began (© BMW Motorrad WSBK).

The highlights along with the Kawasaki one-two
With his sensational start and excellent fighting performance, Toprak Razgatlioglu and the Kawasaki Duo are among the absolute highlights of the day. Everyone had expected the Ducatis very strongly, but the Turk drove as if the person in charge had been after him and failed very close to Alex Lowes in the fight for second place. Sykes was definitely driving well and less than 3 seconds behind the podium is a result that the Huddersfield man can build on Sunday. Particularly strong is the performance of Axel Bassani with 12th place ahead of Isaac Viñales and of course the result of Lucas Mahias. Before that, the French had only ridden briefly in Misano on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, which was absolutely new to him. To get into the points straight away was absolutely strong of him.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) – the young Turk drove a sensational race and crowned his performance with the first podium in Aragon, leaving all the favoured Ducati’s behind him.

Below is the ranking, which is also synonymous with the World Cup ranking.

P,  No, Rider, Bike, Time
1, 1, REA Jonathan, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, LEAD
2, 22, LOWES Alex, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 3.965
3, 54, RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, Yamaha YZF R1, 4.008
4, 45, REDDING Scott, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 4.242
5, 7, DAVIES Chaz, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 4.615
6, 66, SYKES Tom, BMW M 1000 RR, 6.784
7, 21, RINALDI Michael Ruben, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 8.345
8, 91, HASLAM Leon, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 10.187
9, 31, GERLOFF Garrett, Yamaha YZF R1, 10.326
10, 55, LOCATELLI Andrea, Yamaha YZF R1, 17.693
11, 60, VAN DER MARK Michael, BMW M 1000 RR, 21.154
12, 47, BASSANI Axel, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 27.523
13, 32, VINALES Isaac, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 30.963
14, 3, NOZANE Kohta, Yamaha YZF R1, 36.769
15, 44, MAHIAS Lucas, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 39.334
16, 94, FOLGER Jonas, BMW M 1000 RR, 41.544
17, 23, PONSSON Christophe, Yamaha YZF R1, 43.179
18, 84, CRESSON Loris, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, > 1′
RT, 19, BAUTISTA Alvaro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R,
RT, 50, LAVERTY Eugene, BMW M 1000 RR,
RT, 76, CAVALIERI Samuele, Kawasaki ZX-10RR,
RT, 36, MERCADO Leandro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R,
RT, 53, RABAT Tito, Ducati Panigale V4 R,

Motorland Aragon route map

WorldSBK has been racing in Aragon since 2011 and the first win was won by Marco Melandri on a Yamaha, while Aprilia ace Max Biaggi won the second run. The following year, the two Italians won again, but in reverse order and Melandri on a BMW. In the following two years it was first Davies and then Sykes on Kawasaki, which each took a double victory.

Schedule for the first race weekend of 2021

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