Toprak Razgatlioglu is the n♏ew 2021 World Superbike champion after finishing second behind Jonathan Rea in ra🐲ce one at Mandalika.

Razgatlioglu’s championship win sees ওhim become the first rider to beat Rea to the 𒈔WorldSBK title since 2015.

For the second time this weekend WorldSBK race one was delayed as rain began to fall moments before the scheduled start. However, the delay was a sho♒rt one this time around as racing fꦓinally got going 15 minutes after it was expected to do so.

Before the race began, Razgatlioglu suffered🌱 a big moment on the sighting lap as he momentarily lost the rear at turn one and c𒅌ame close to a highside. 

After completing their sighting lap every rider looked set to change to intermediate tyres, but that was not the case as they stayed on slicks, despi♍te a damp track.

Once the race got going it was Rea who made aꦕ brilliant start and took the lead be⛎fore turn one.

Razgatlioglu was initially pushed down to fourth, but the Yamaha rider quickly recovered third and second place off Garrett Gerloff a♐nd Scott Redding. Oliver Konig suffered a crash on lap two which was enough to end his debut WorldSBK race.

Razgatlioglu was looking menacingℱ behind Rea on lap two before making his way into the lead at the beginning of lap three - turn 1.

Axel Bassani, who clinched his maiden WorldSBK podi💃um in weꦯt conditions got through on Redding for third during lap three.

Bassani then took second position off Rea 💃at turn 12, while Razgatlioglu continued to lead a group of six. Bassani’s incredible first few laps got even better as he took the lead from Razgatlioglu at turn ten. 

Rea followed Bassani through before taking the lead at turn 15. The Kawasaki didn’t have the Italian between him and his titl🍨e rival for long as Razgatlioglu came through on Bassani at turn one - lap sev🐽en. 

As conditions began to improve, Rea and Razgatlioglu set back-to-back fastest laps as the Yamaha rid🔜er closed in on Rea. With the pace getting quicker, Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark struggled to stay with the top four of Rea, Razgatlioglu, Bassani and Redding.

A stunning move from Razgatlioglu saw him regain the lead on lap ten. The championship leader looked to have 🌟run into turn ten too hot, however, Razgatlioglu dived to the inside and made the overtake stick. 

Rea and Razgatlioglu exchanged the✅ lead once again on lap 11, but it was the 24 year-old who maintained first place. Meanwhile, Redding was up to third as Bassani started falling back from thꦜe top three.

Redding then took second off Rea at turn 15 - the same corner where Rea had previously done all his overtaking. Redding then took the lead as Razgatlioglu made a mistake at turn 15 which caused him to run off-track. The error from Razgatlioglu dropဣped him to third and behind Rea.

Razgatlioglu was over a𝓡 s🅰econd down on Redding and Rea due to his mistake, before Rea eventually took the lead from the Ducati man on lap 17. 

Redding seemed to be struggling once R🐽ea got through as Razgatlioglu rapidly closed in. The Yamaha rider’s pace advantage then turned into P2 after getting past Redding at turn one to elevate himself back into a championship winning position. 

Razgatlioglu began catching Rea with two laps to go, however, it wasn’t enough as Rea held on for the win. Redding came home third, while WorldSBK rookies for the last weekend in 2021 Andrea Locateཧlli and Bassani rounded out the top five. 

Razgatlioglu joi🤪ns MotoGP star Fabio Quartararo in winning world titles during the same season for Yamaha, while it’s also the first time a Yamaha rider has won the Superbike title since 2009 (Ben Spies) - coincidently that was another year where both the MotoGP and WorldSBK ♛title went to Yamaha riders as Valentino Rossi claimed the last of his nine world titles. 

Before Saturday’s qualifying took place Alex Lowes was declared unfit after suffering an AC joint injury following a highside 𝕴crash in FP3.

WorldSBK FP3 took place without Team HRC rider Leon Haslam after it was confirmed that the British rider would take no further pa༒rt in his final weekend as a world championship rider due to a shoulder injury.