WorldSBK | Rinaldi wins race 2 in Catalunya; Toprak retakes Championship lead; Rea is 6th

September 19, 2021 motonewsworld

Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi won race 2 this Sunday in Catalunya for the WorldSBK World Superbike Championship, but saw Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) cross into second to retake the championship lead as six-time champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) only managed to cross in sixth.

In Sunday’s first race, the Superpole, Rea managed to win the dispute marked by the red flag. Toprak finished second and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) was third, an excellent result for the team, and his first podium in 2021.

In race 2, the main one, also interrupted because of a serious accident between Tom Sykes (BMW) and Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki), Rea couldn’t keep up with Rinaldi (who took the lead) and Toprak.

After a few laps, the Turkish managed to regain the lead, but it didn’t last long and the Italian returned to lead to not lose more and cross in first. Until then, there was also a fierce fight for fourth place, between Bautista and Scott Redding (Ducati). The Brit tried everything but couldn’t get past the Spaniard, until they both managed to reach third, Jonathan.

Halfway through the race, Rea continued to lose performance, and had to fight for third position with Bautista, Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) and Redding. At one point, Rea got in the way of Bautista who lost fourth place to Locatelli and Redding. Quickly, the Kawasaki rider was passed by the two and, a few more laps, also by Bautista.

In the final laps, Redding was one of those showing more performance and managed to overtake Locatelli, as well as getting close to Toprak, but crossed in third.

Bautista also had good performance in the final laps, but he couldn’t get close enough to Redding to dispute the podium. Still, it was a brilliant weekend for Honda, with a podium and fourth place.