Unstoppable Toprak Razgatlioglu goes from strength to strength in Portimão.

After equaling Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista’s record of 11 consecutive race wins in Saturdays opening race of the weekend, ROKiT BMW’s Toprak Razgatioglu impeccably went one better on Sunday afternoon in Portimao to score his twelfth win in succession and fourteenth of the season to add another accolade to his glittering career.

After starting on pole position, Razgatioglu surrendered the lead on the opening lap and dropped to third behind early pace setters; Danilo Petrucci and Alex Lowes. This would be as complicated as the afternoon would get for the Turkish rider, as he made short work of both of his two competitors to take the lead on the second lap.

Once in the lead, Razgatioglu wouldn’t relinquish this position and went on to win the race by 2.9 seconds. Behind the dominant champion elect, Toprak’s team-mate Michael van der Mark was looking for his first podium since Indonesia 2021.

After a race long tussle with the above mentioned Petrucci and Lowes, the 31 year-old Dutchman narrowly missed out on a return to the rostrum by less than three hundredths of a second and had to settle for his second fourth place of the season. Despite being under immense pressure for the whole race, it was Barni Spark Ducati’s Petrucci who equaled his career best WSBK finish with second place.

Lincolnshire’s Lowes gained important championship points with his eighth podium of the season in third place. Behind the top four, Aruba Ducati duo Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista finished in fifth and sixth while HRC’s Xavi Vierge achieved his best result of the season, reaching the chequered flag in seventh place. Completing the point scorers from the super pole race were Dominique Agerter in eighth and Andrea Iannone in ninth.

The remaining trio of British riders; Jonathan Rea, Scott Redding and Bradley Ray all finished the race, but ultimately failed to score points finishing in 10th, 17th and 18th respectively. Wildcard and former MotoGP rider Hafizh Syahrin beat series regular Philipp Öttl to finish 20th by a gap of less than a second. Syahrin’s Malaysian compatriot; Adam Norrodin, racing for MIE Petronas Honda did not start the race after being declared unfit by the medical team with a migraine, the 26 year-old will take no further part in the weekend. Norrodin’s teammate for the weekend, Portugal’s Ivo Lopez, competing in his home race in place of the injured Tarran Mackenzie finished 22nd.

Featured Image: WorldSBK.com.