In Race 2 Jonathan Rea takes the second hat trick of his career, Scott Redding second and rookie Andrea Locatelli takes his first podium in WorldSBK; fourth win in a row for Aegerter in WSSP and Booth-Amos is back on the top step of the podium in WSSP300
Assen (Netherlands), 25 July 2021 – After being overtaken briefly by Toprak Razgatlioglu in the overall championship standings, Jonathan Rea responded with a brilliant hat trick at the fifth round of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship which just ended at the TT Circuit of Assen, in the Netherlands.
In the morning, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) triumphed in the Tissot Superpole race ahead of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1), who was penalised a position for exceeding the track limits on the last lap. The three riders on the podium, in addition to another nine, used the brand new A0721 SC1 front solution (option A) which made its début here at Assen, whereas for the rear, most of the riders preferred the A0557 SCX development tyre (option B).
In Race 2 of WorldSBK, Jonathan Rea, won ahead of Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) and, with his first SBK podium, rookie Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1). In the afternoon races, more and more riders chose to race with the front A0721 SC1 development solution (option A), whereas the most used solution on the rear was the standard SC0 (option C).
Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter on Yamaha (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6) took his fourth race win in a row for the FIM Supersport World Championship, whereas the small 300 World Championship race was won by Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport - RT Motorsports by SKM - Kawasaki / Kawasaki Ninja 400).
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race:
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1) had an excellent start, moving into the lead on the first turns, but threatened straight away by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) who, thanks to an outstanding start from the fourth spot on the grid, managed to gain the upper hand over the rest. The Italian was closely followed by reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) who attempted to overtake several times, finally succeeding on the third lap, with Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) following in third. The Northern Irishman’s pace increased consistently and, doing his best race lap time first on the fourth lap and then on the sixth, he began to pull farther and farther ahead of his adversaries. The lead group included six riders from three different manufacturers: Scott Redding, in third place, was constantly hounded by Razgatlioglu and teammate Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1), who overtook him in the final laps of the race, and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR). The last lap reserved a thrilling battle for second between Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli with the Yamaha riders coming out on top, finishing second and third respectively, but both were penalised one position subsequently for exceeding the track limits. This meant that the podium confirmed Jonathan Rea as winner, taking home his fourteenth win on the Dutch circuit, Michael Ruben Rinaldi second and Toprak Razgatlioglu third.
WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race Standings:
WorldSBK Race 2:
In Race 2, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1) started extremely well but, due to contact with American rider Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1), he crashed and was forced to retire. WSBK rookie and 2020 WSSP Champion Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1) exploited the situation, moving into the race lead, followed closely by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR). Behind them, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) maintained a good pace and, with outstanding control of the bike, managed to attack first Scott Redding (ARUBA.IT Racing - Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R), and then his teammate Lowes before taking on Italian rider Rinaldi to move into second place and begin chasing down Locatelli who had built up a gap of one second by that time. In the second half of the race, Chaz Davies, who had started from the ninth spot on the grid, made up several positions to successfully battle for fourth against Michael Ruben Rinaldi whilst the defending World Champion caught up with Locatelli and, after several attempts, managed to overtake him on the twelfth lap. Two laps before the chequered flag, Scott Redding also managed to get past Locatelli, who therefore finished Race 2 in third place, earning a well-deserved first podium in the premier class, with the Ducati riding Brit finishing second and reigning World Champion Rea on the top step of the podium.
WorldSBK Race 2 Standings:
WorldSSP Race 2:
At the end of the Parade Lap done by Michael Rinaldi to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the 1st World Superbike title won by motorcycling legend Troy Bayliss, on a dedicated, limited edition Ducati the second race of the FIM Supersport World Championship started.
Starting well from the third spot on the grid was Philipp Oettl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-6R) who moved into the lead from the first laps of the race ahead of Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6), Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team / Yamaha YZF R6) and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R6) who proceeded with constant back-and-forth overtaking for the podium positions. At the mid-race point, the Swiss Race 1 winner did his best race lap time and managed to overtake Kawasaki rider Oettl who, however, did not fade away quietly, remaining a constant threat. In the meantime, Odendaal made a mistake, taking an off-track excursion and re-entering in sixteenth place, while Randy Krummenacher (EAB Racing Team / Yamaha YZF R6) moved into third place ahead of San Marino native Luca Bernardi (CM Racing / Yamaha YZF R6) who had started from the ninth spot on the grid. Also battling for fourth were Jules Cluzel and Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team / Yamaha YZF R6). In the final laps, Dominique had no rivals, finishing first for a nice double win ahead of Oettl (second) and Krummenacher (third).
WorldSBK Race 2 Standings:
WorldSSP300 Race 2:
The final event of the day was the second FIM Supersport 300 World Championship race. As happened for the Supersport category, the results were confirmed at the end of the race due to no fewer than five penalties for exceeding the track limits, which also shuffled the podium positions. Finishing on the top step of the podium was Tom Booth-Amos (Fusport - RT Motorsports by SKM - Kawasaki / Kawasaki Ninja 400) ahead of Hugo De Cancellis (Prodina Team WorldSSP300 / Kawasaki Ninja 400), second, and Samuel Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo / Kawasaki Ninja 400), third.
The Pirelli solutions chosen by the riders for the WorldSBK and WorldSSP races:
In WorldSBK, for the Tissot Superpole Race, many riders decided to use the solution that had earned Jonathan Rea his victory in Race 1. This meant that half the grid chose the A0721 SC1 development solution (option A) for the front, whereas for the rear, they opted for the A0557 SCX developments solutions (option B), which performed optimally, also considering the lower temperatures.
In WorldSBK Race 2, more and more riders confirmed the winning selection of the new front A0721 SC1 development solution (option A) which was used by no fewer than sixteen riders out of nineteen on the grid, whereas Bautista, Mantovani and Nozane preferred theA0508 SC1 development tyre (option B). For the rear, most of the riders, including Jonathan Rea and Scott Redding, opted for the standard SC0 solution (option C), with the rest of the grid, including Andrea Locatelli, preferring the A0557 SCX development tyre (option B).
In the WorldSSP race, various combinations were chosen. For the front, sixteen riders chose to use the standard SC1 (option B), whereas the rest of the grid opted for the new A0640 SC1 development solution (option A) and Michel Fabrizio was the only one on the standard SC2 (option C). For the rear, fifteen riders opted for the standard SC0 solution (option B), with the remaining thirteen, including the riders who finished on the podium, using the super soft standard SCX (option A).
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Tissot Superpole Race:
Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 2:
Pirelli statistics for WorldSSP Race 2:
© Copyright 2024