Checkered flag – Razgatlioglu takes his consecutive victories to 11, triumphing ahead of a recovering Bautista and a super Petrucci!
Lap 19 – Bautista tries to recover, but doesn’t seem to have the energy to snatch the win from Toprak.
Lap 18 – Gerloff moves up to fourth followed by Alex Lowes and van der Mark, while Locatelli now occupies 11th place, after being overtaken by Aegerter and Gardner.
Lap 17 – Bautista passes Petrucci and moves into second place, about a second behind Razgatlioglu.
Lap 16 – Bautista is glued to Petrucci, while Toprak tries to make a break in these final laps. Meanwhile, Scott Redding crashes.
Lap 15 – With 5 laps to go, the lead is wide open, with three riders all within half a second of each other. Van der Mark is further back, having to watch out for Gerloff.
Lap 14 – Petrucci doesn’t give up and recovers 3 tenths on Toprak. Danilo doesn’t want to give up on the dream of his first SBK victory and is giving everything to go and catch up with the leader of the race and the championship.
Lap 13 – Toprak takes a bit of a lead in the race, also taking advantage of the battle between Petrucci and Bautista for second place.
Lap 12 – Razgatlioglu manages to overtake Petrucci and take the lead ahead of Petrucci, who is being threatened by van der Mark and Bautista. Also of note is the crash at Turn 1 of Iannone, who was riding in ninth position.
Lap 11 – Great fight for the first position, with Petrucci managing to defend himself from Razgatlioglu and maintain first place. Everything is wide open also for the third step of the podium, which at the moment sees van der Mark and Bautista fighting.
Lap 10 – At halfway through the race Petrucci is still leading the race ahead of the BMWs of Razgatlioglu and van der Mark. Bautista is fourth in a comeback, followed by Alex Lowes, Gerloff, Bulega and Bassani.
Lap 9 – Toprak passes Danilo at the end of the straight, but Petrucci responds and takes the lead again. Gerloff is sixth, passing Bulega.
Lap 8 – Bautista moves up to fifth, passing Gerloff and then Bulega.
Lap 7 – Bautista chases Gerloff, setting another fastest lap. Petrucci continues to lead the way, closely followed by Razgatlioglu, while Alex Lowes takes back third place from van der Mark.
Lap 6 – Toprak reclaims second place behind Petrucci, with van der Mark emulating his teammate and taking third place with a pass on Alex Lowes. Here’s the standings:
Lap 5 – A big battle at the front of the race, with Petrucci in the lead ahead of Lowes and Razgatlioglu. Bautista moves up to eighth with a pass on Bassani.
Lap 3 – Petrucci tries to attack Toprak but fails to close the overtaking, just as the Turk fails to snatch the first position from Lowes. Bautista recovers positions, moving up to ninth place ahead of Locatelli. Bad scare for Rea, who risks falling in Turn 15. Problems for Oettel, instead, who is forced to retire.
Lap 2 – Van der Mark passes Bulega and sets the fastest lap of the race. Nicolò loses another position, sixth after being overtaken by Jonathan Rea.
Lap 1 – Lowes gains a few metres but is unable to shake off Toprak, second just under three tenths behind.
Off we go! – Razgatlioglu runs wide and finds himself in third place behind Alex Lowes and Petrucci. Danilo runs wide at Turn 3 but manages to quickly reclaim the position from Toprak. Tough start for Bautista, who is now 13th.
18:59 – The Warm-up lap begins: everything is ready for the start.
18:54 – Here is the complete starting grid:
18:52 – Immediately behind is Nicolò Bulega, lined up in the fourth position.
18:50 – Danilo Petrucci smiles. After having set the best time in FP2 yesterday, the Terni native was the author of an excellent Superpole, grabbing third place on the grid.
18:48 – Toprak Razgatlioglu will start from pole position once again. The best position to start from in an attempt to continue his streak of consecutive victories.
18:44 – With just over 15 minutes to go, the riders are starting to reach the starting grid for this unprecedented sunset heat.
18:43 – Welcome to our live broadcast of Game 1.
There is very little left now until the first challenge at the sunset of this fiery Round in Portimao. At 18:00 local time, 19:00 in Italy, the Algarve track will see Toprak Razgatlioglu start from pole position, in search of that 11th consecutive victory that would allow him to equal the record set by Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea.
Alex Lowes and Danilo Petrucci will try to put a spoke in the wheels of the Turk, who will accompany him on the front row, followed by Nicolò Bulega, Michael van der Mark and Bautista. Seventh and eighth place on the grid for Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea, while Axel Bassani and Andrea Iannone will have to try to climb from 12th and 15th place respectively.
