Portimao WorldSBK: BMW Cup, Cup, Cup
T
he so-called Ducati Cup (the
other one, not the MotoGP
version) simply wasn't a reality—
almost from the start—at Por-
timao for round two of the FIM
WorldSBK Championship.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT
BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team)
had the strongest pre-race stom-
ach for the intense dips and rises
around the remarkably dramatic
2.81-mile Portimao circuit.
He was nearly at the track best
in FP2, less than two-tenths of a
second off, which was amazing,
as he had missed the whole of
FP1 on Friday with a tech issue.
Toprak and many others had
tested at Portimao just a couple
of weeks before, so he knew his
way around, to be fair.
But it was an early weekend
recovery mission from Razgatlio
-
glu that the A-team would have
been proud of.
The current WorldSBK "spe-
cial one" went on to smash his
own early fast pace in Superpole
Qualifying on a warm Saturday
morning, almost getting into the
1:38s with his new track best of
1'39.081.
Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing
– Ducati) was second on the grid
and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark
Racing Team Ducati) third. So,
two precious metal Ducati pre-
race teaspoons, if not full Ducati
cups at that point?
The much-desired rider-to-rider
dust-up between the two clear
best forces in WorldSBK this
season—Razgatlioglu and Bule
-
ga—came to pass in a tense and
exciting race one. After Razgatlio-
glu had made up for a bad start at
least, as he took until lap seven to
secure the lead across the stripe
for the first time.
The on-track lead was
swapped several times in the 20
laps, although only four times
officially. But at the end of Satur
-
day, Razgatlioglu had enough of
a lead and the skills required to
keep Bulega behind him by just
0.067 of a second.
WIND
IN THE
P38
Toprak Razgatlioglu
swept the Portimao
WorldSBK weekend,
earning his 60th
career WorldSBK win
and surpassing
Carl Fogarty on the
all-time win list.
PHOTOS: GOLD & GOOSE
