Points make prizes
Rea locked in battle with Toprak
‘Every rider was worried about tyre wear’
Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea are separated by a single point as the World Superbike Championship rolls into Jerez. As a pivotal run of three back-toback events began in Barcelona, the famed Catalunya circuit saw a trio of different winners for the second season in succession; even though the Turk was not one of them, he retained his advantage by the narrowest of margins. With nine races in 16 days, there is a genuine feeling that the outcome of 2021 will be much clearer by the time the action on the Iberian peninsula meets its conclusion, not least as there is no end date to the ever-changing calendar. Organisers Dorna have confirmed the Argentina round is on, while question marks hover over Indonesia’s new Mandalika circuit and whether a European replacement will be deliverable. All talk heading to Barcelona centred around the Magny-Cours controversy two weeks earlier, when Kawasaki successfully protested Yamaha after Rea spotted Razgatlioglu exceeding track limits in the Sprint Race. Any bitter feelings were soon quenched by the spectacular Catalan racing, to which real uncertainty was added thanks to track temperatures in the 40s combined with loose rubber ‘marbles’ on the surface following the Barcelona 24 Hour car race a fortnight earlier. Kawasaki were tipped as favourites as they tested at the venue along with Honda and BMW a month previously. Not only that, but Razgatlioglu missed any meaningful running in the pre-season test due to a positive Covid result. Ducati’s Scott Redding played down his chances, citing struggles in sweeping corners of which there are many on the Montmeló track. Sure enough, quick and consistent Friday runs for Razgatlioglu and Rea suggested they were the top duo, although every rider was seriously worried about tyre wear in the closing stages of the long races. Even Kawasaki were concerned, their previous test staged in ★50°C track temperatures meaning data could not be directly compared; this was worsened by the fact Saturday’s race was wet, meaning one less opportunity for data in a season when testing and weekend practice sessions are scarcer than ever. Setup decisions and tyre choices became a miniature lottery; indeed, a mixed dry-wet setup for Race 1 backfired for Kawasaki as the track stayed too wet to pit for slick tyres.
Although Rea scored six more points than Razgatlioglu across the weekend, it still feels like Yamaha have the edge. The Northern Irishman’s record run of eight consecutive poles came to an end as both the Turk and pole-sitter Tom Sykes qualified quicker, while a couple of uncharacteristically ordinary starts were surprising for Rea. He delivered another classy Sprint win ahead after a dramatic wobble for Razgatlioglu, but was caught and passed in both wet and dry conditions in the longer races to finish fourth and sixth, respectively.
In Race 1, Razgatlioglu extraordinarily hunted down Rea before losing an almost certain victory (25 points) six laps from home due to suspected alternator failure. It was a bitterly frustrating end to his challenge while sporting Yamaha’s historic red and white colours to mark the company’s 60th anniversary of Grand Prix racing. However, behind the scenes there was massive optimism as the 24-year-old had mastered wet weather riding which until then had been his downfall.
In a truly fantastic set of circumstances, this year is genuinely impossible to call. Only once before has the title been decided by a margin smaller than the current lead, when Max Biaggi pipped Tom Sykes by half a point in 2012.
In a season of stable rules, four winners and 12 podium finishers from 27 races to date, 2021 has all the hallmarks of a true classic.