BY GORDON RITCHIE
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GOLD & GOOSE
T
oprak Razgatlioglu can
now taste the 2024
WorldSBK Championship
after picking up a pair of wins
at the penultimate round of the
series in Portugal. But the week
-
end's racing will be remembered
for the rain, mist and a track so
slippery, crashes were a regular
inevitability. It finally dried out
and the sun remembered its
place in the grand scheme of
things in a country like Portugal,
so Sunday was a day for some
new lap records and freedom
from tyrannical weather.
Superpole qualifying was a
slippery affair, but it was headed
up by the remarkable Razgatlio
-
glu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad
WorldSBK Team), who won his
18th career Superpole and his
sixth of this amazing season.
Just 0.082 of a second
behind, Danilo Petrucci (Barni
Spark Racing Ducati) was sec-
ond and may have been first but
for a small front-end tuck and
slither entering the final com-
plex of corners.
Third was the recently shorn
WorldSBK GOAT Jonathan
Rea (Pata Yamaha Prometeon
WorldSBK Team), who secured
a front-row start for the first
time since he took the Super
-
pole win at Assen in April.
Championship hopeful Nicolo
Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Duca
-
ROUND 11 / OCTOBER 11-13, 2024
CIRCUIT ESTORIL / ESTORIL, PORTUGAL
ROAD RACE I FIM WORLDSBK CHAMPIONSHIP
P72
Toprak Razgatlioglu inches closer to title
with a pair of wins in Portugal
TOPRAK CLOSES IN
