WSBK: Rea back in Championship Lead with Aragon Race 2 Victory

Jonathan Rea secured his second win of the day and reclaimed the championship lead in Aragon Race 2.

The defending champion withstood pressure from Chaz Davies who had to settle for runner-up spot. Alvaro Bautista rounded out the podium with the first rostrum finish for the new Honda Fireblade.

With Scott Redding down in fourth, Rea now heads the table standings 10 points ahead of the Ducati rider. Toprak Razgatlioglu sits third, already 65 points adrift of the lead and with only a slim four point advantage over Chaz Davies.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took the holeshot from pole and led into Turn 1 from Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati), Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) and Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC). Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) meanwhile had a poor getaway and dropped down to 12^th.

Rea immediately started to stretch out a gap, but Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) was the man on form and started to make his way up the order. Though the Ducati rider failed to execute a move on Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven) at the end of the back straight on the opening lap, he claimed him for sixth at Turn 1 only moments later.

Redding, who went into the race on different tyres than the rest of the field, struggled in the early stages and ran wide at Turn 13, allowing van der Mark through into second. Redding’s troubles did not stop there as he was wide again at Turn 16 and left the door open for Bautista to sweep past him.

Davies meanwhile was continuing his hunt and powered the Ducati past Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) down the back straight to take fifth at Turn 16. The Welshman’s next target was Redding who still looked uncomfortable and fell victim to his teammate through Turns 16 and 17 at the end of Lap 3.

While Rea already had a comfortable advantage, the pack bunched up in positions two to five. Van der Mark just managed to hold Bautista at bay who himself had his hands full with Davies while Redding was clinging on to the back of the group.

Davies pounced with 15 laps remaining and dived down Bautista’s inside at Turn 13 to move into a podium position and right on the tail of van der Mark who he left for dust down the back straight. Now up into second, Davies had his sight firmly set on Rea and started to hunt down his opponent.

Bautista threatened van der Mark multiple times but failed to execute an overtake under braking. With the Fireblade’s superior horsepower though, he claimed the Dutchman easily down the back straight on Lap 14 and moved up into a podium spot.

Rinaldi had found great rhythm and lunged past Razgalioglu through the chicane between Turns 14 and 15 to move into sixth and hunt down the front runners.

Davies and Bautista were running a fraction quicker than Rea, but the Kawasaki rider responded and managed to hold the gap intact. Redding had meanwhile figured out his tyres and was on van der Mark’s case. With the Ducati’s top speed on his side, he made the Yamaha look stationary down the back straight and dived underneath van der Mark at Turn 16 for fourth with 10 laps to go.

Further back, paint was being swapped in a closely contested group for seven to 11 between Razgatlioglu, Leon Haslam (Team HRC), Lowes, Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK). Positions kept swapping and changing with particularly Lowes, Razgatlioglu and Fores exchanging punches.

Rinaldi had closed in on van der Mark and patiently sat behind him waiting for an opportunity to execute a move. Utilising the Ducati’s speed, Rinaldi pulled out of the slipstream on the start/finish straight going into Lap 12 and moved past the Dutchman clean as a whistle at Turn 1.

The positions out front looked settled with Redding in a lonely fourth and Davies having managed to break away from Bautista. The gap between Davies and Rea meandered between 1.2 and 1.5 seconds, suggesting that Davies would need a mistake on Rea’s side for a victory assault – a favour the Kawasaki rider would grant with five laps to go.

Rea ran wide into Turns 16 and 17 at the end of the back straight and allowed Davies to accelerate past him down start/finish and into the lead at Turn 1. Rea immediately fought back and the lead exchanged hands multiple times throughout the first two sectors, the Kawasaki rider eventually coming out top.

It was a massive wake up call for Rea who pushed hard to keep the Ducati at bay. His final laps truly were a five-times world champion’s ride as Rea resisted the pressure coming from Davies and crossed the finish line just under 1.3 seconds ahead of his opponent. Despite having to settle for second, Davies completed a great weekend with his second podium in Aragon.

Bautista came home in third and secured the first rostrum for the new Honda Fireblade. The result also marked Honda’s first podium finish since 2016 when Michael van der Mark took second in Magny-Cours’ Race 1. The remaining top 6 finishers were settled with Redding in fourth, Rinaldi in fifth and van der Mark in sixth who all crossed the line solitarily.

The battle for positions seven to 12, Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) having joined the group, raved on until the final corner. Haslam made a decisive move down the back straight, freeing the Honda’s horsepower and moving up into seventh. Razgatlioglu crossed the line in eighth ahead of Lowes, Gerloff, Fores and Sykes.

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) came home in 13^th from Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) secured the final point on offer in 15^th.

Just outside the points ranks Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) was 16^th ahead of Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing) while the MIE Racing Althea Hondas of Takumi Takahashi and Lorenzo Gabellini were last to complete the race.

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) and Roman Ramos (Outdo Kawasaki TPR) did not take the chequered flag.