Doha (Qatar),
25
October
2019
|
09:00
Europe/Amsterdam

In Qatar Jonathan Rea wins WorldSBK Race 1 and Kawasaki takes its fifth consecutive Manufacturer World Championship; standard Pirelli tyres are the most used options by the riders

The Northern Irishman takes the 23rd pole of his career and his 15th win of the season ahead of Chaz Davies, second, and Alex Lowes, third. In WorldSSP Federico Caricasulo clinches pole position for the race tomorrow

Under the spotlights that brightly illuminate the Losail Circuit Sports Club of Doha, Qatar, five-time World Champion Jonathan Rea won Race 1 of the MOTUL FIM World Superbike Championship. With this victory, his 15th of the season, the Northern Irish rider has also definitively filed away the Manufacturer World Championship, won for the fifth consecutive year by Kawasaki.Rea earned pole position with a time of 1’56.246 and in the race he finished ahead of Chaz Davies on Ducati, second in the Manufacturer Championship, and Alex Lowes on his Yamaha, the Championship third-place manufacturer.

As for tyre choices for this first race of the weekend, most of the riders decided to rely on the standard larger size 125/70 front and 200/65 rear tyres, specifically in the soft compound, SC1 front and SC0 rear. Obviously, there were some riders who preferred using development tyres, including Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes, both finishing on the podium.

In the meantime today, Italian rider Caricasulo clinched pole position for the race tomorrow which will decide who will be the FIM Supersport World Champion between Caricasulo, teammate Randy Krummenacher and Frenchman Jules Cluzel.

In Race 1, reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR) started well from the first spot on the grid and led from flag to flag without any worries from his rivals.Behind him, both Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1) and Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1) started well, followed by Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR) and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R).During the second lap, Tom Sykes crashed out whilst trying to avoid Leon Haslam who was ahead of him, ending his race early.On the fourth lap, Chaz Davies managed to move into third, overtaking Cortese, with the latter then forced to retire on the sixth lap due to a crash.In the meantime, Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) succeeded in moving into fourth after starting seventh.The last important pass of the race came on the fourteenth lap, with Chaz Davies overtaking Alex Lowes, allowing the Welshman to finish on the second step of the podium.There were no upsets in the final part of the race and Rea went on to finish with a 2.7 seconds advantage ahead of Davies and more than 5 seconds ahead of Alex Lowes.

WorldSBK Race 1 Standings:

1) J. Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
2) C. Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
3) A. Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
4) Á. Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
5) L. Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
6) M. Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1)
7) L. Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha / Yamaha YZF R1)
8) M. Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)
9) E. Laverty (Team Goeleven / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
10) L. Camier (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
11) T. Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
12) M. Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
13) M. Rinaldi (Barni Racing Team / Ducati Panigale V4 R)
14) R. Kiyonari (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
15) A. Delbianco (Althea Mie Racing Team / Honda CBR1000RR)
16) D. Schmitter (iXS Racing powered by YART/ Yamaha YZF R1)
RT) L. Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)
RT) S. Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK / Yamaha YZF R1)
RT) T. Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team / BMW S1000 RR)
RT) J. Torres (Team Pedercini Racing / Kawasaki ZX-10RR)

The Pirelli solutions chosen by the WorldSBK riders for Race 1:

In Race 1, most of the riders used the standard solutions both on the front and on the rear, although there were a few different choices. Specifically, on the front, the most popular solution was the standard 125/70 SC1 (option A), but Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes, Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark preferred putting on the harder solution, namely the X1071 SC2 development tyre.As for the rear, the majority of the riders opted for the standard 200/65 SC0 (option B) but in this case as well, there were those who bucked the trend, including Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes, Tom Sykes and Michael Van Der Mark who accompanied the front development tyre with the Y0446 specification soft rear development solution (option A).

Pirelli statistics for WorldSBK Race 1:

• Winner of the PIRELLI BEST LAP AWARD: Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team / Yamaha YZF R1) in 1'57.197 at the 2nd lap 

• Most used front solution: standard SC1 125/70 (16 out of 20 riders) 

• Most used rear solution: standard SC0 200/65 (13 out of 20 riders) 

• Maximum race speed reached by Pirelli DIABLO™ Superbike tyres: 325.3 km/h, achieved by Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati / Ducati Panigale V4 R) in the 4th lap 

• Number of solutions (dry, intermediate and wet) for the Superbike class: 4 front and 7 rear Number of tyres available for each Superbike rider: 58, including 27 front and 31 rear 

• Air temperature: 31° C 

• Asphalt temperature: 32° C