WSBK: Rinaldi Clinches Maiden Win in Teruel Race 1 as Redding Crashes Out

Michael Ruben Rinaldi clinched the first victory of his WorldSBK career in the first race of the Teruel Round.

Rinaldi had topped all free practice sessions as Motorland Aragon and carried his form into Race 1. The Italian hit the front on the opening lap and did not look back to claim a sensational win ahead of Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies.

With Scott Redding crashing out of the 18-lap race, Rea now holds a 30 points advantage in the championship standings. Davies moved up into third, a further 43 points adrift of his teammate.

There was drama on the grid before the race even started as a number of riders, including Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven), Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati), opted to race the qualifying X tyre.

As the race got underway, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) took the holeshot from pole and led the field into Turn 1 from Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) and Rinaldi who had both started from the front row. Rinaldi wasted no time and immediately claimed Redding for second before he pulled out of the slipstream down the back straight and moved past Rea into the lead at Turn 16.

The Italian headed the field when they crossed the line for the first time with Rea and Redding close behind. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) had made up positions from seventh on the grid and was running in fourth from Bautista and Davies.

With two laps gone, the front six riders had pulled away from the field and were running in a leading group. Further behind, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was struggling and kept dropping pace while Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) recovered from a poor grid position and had moved up into seventh.

Bautista looked determined to repeat his podium finish from a week ago and took Razgatlioglu for fourth at Turn 1 going into the fourth lap and had his sight set on Redding ahead of him. Razgatlioglu swiftly lost another position when Aragon record winner Davies claimed him at Turn 12. Rinaldi meanwhile was running at great pace in the lead and had extended his advantage to more than a second by the time they completed Lap 5.

Redding yet again struggled to stop the Ducati into corners and missed his braking point at Turn 1 going into Lap 7. The Brit ran wide and allowed Bautista to close right in on him. With a podium spot within his grasp, Bautista challenged his opponent and had a first look a lap later at Turn 1, but failed to make the move stick. Under pressure from the Honda, Redding pushed hard to hold his position and crashed out of the race at Turn 4 on Lap 8. The Ducati rider thereby recorded his first non-scorer of the season and suffered a massive blow to his championship ambitions.

Untroubled by the drama, Rinaldi was still setting the pace out front and now held a four second advantage. Having been informed that his main title opponent had went down, Rea looked to control his ride in second, aided by a mistake from Bautista that put him out of touch of the Kawasaki.

In midfield, the positions from seven to ten were fiercely contested between Leon Haslam (Team HRC), Sykes, Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team). The order changed at Turn 1 with 6 laps remaining as Sykes took Haslam and Lowes, who was weakened by a gastrointestinal virus, claimed Caricasulo for ninth. Sykes subsequently dropped down to 10^th when he ran wide at Turn 12 while Lowes blasted past Haslam down the back straight to head the group going into Lap 14. Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) had found some rhythm in 11^th and was edging ever closer in on the top 10 positions.

Further out front, the fight for the podiums spots was on as Davies had caught up with Bautista and was all over his rear tyre. The Honda and the Ducati contested a drag race down the back straight on Lap 14 and though Bautista just managed to stay in front, he had to surrender the position to his former teammate at Turn 1. Unwilling to let go of the rostrum, the Spaniard pushed hard and went down at Turn 14, handing the podium to Davies.

Behind them, the two Yamahas of Razgatliolgu and van der Mark were running in no-man’s-land, but the Dutchman had found the better pace and claimed his teammate at the chicane between Turns 12 and 14.

Unfazed and flawless, Rinaldi had extended his lead to almost six seconds and comfortably took the chequered flag to secure his first ever win in the class. The Italian’s sensational performance marked the first victory for an independent rider since 2012 when Sylvain Guintoli triumphed in Magny-Cours.

Rea brought home second to consolidate his position in the championship and extended his lead over Redding to 30 points. Davies completed the podium and moved up one spot into third in the table standings.

The factory Yamahas came home in fourth and fifth, van der Mark having pulled away from his teammate Razgatlioglu. Lowes beat his illness to secure a heroic sixth place from Haslam and Laverty who came on strong in the late stages of the race. Caricasulo finished ninth while Sykes rounded out the top 10.

Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) was 11^th ahead of Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing) and Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing). Replacement rider Matteo Ferrari (Motocorsa Racing) took points at his debut in 14^th while Takumi Takahashi (MIE Racing Honda Team) secured the last point on offer in 15^th.

Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing Verdnature) was the only rider to complete the race and not take points. Stand-in Roman Ramos (Outdo Kawasaki TPR), Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) and Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) were non-finishers alongside Redding and Bautista.