Alex Lowes makes it two WorldSBK wins on Sunday at P.I.

WorldSBK 2024
Round One – Phillip Island
WorldSBK Race Two

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) doubled up on MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship victories on Sunday as he won a red-flagged Race 2 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

The race-winning move came on the final lap at Turn 9 when Lowes stormed around the outside of Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) at Lukey Heights.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) got the holeshot as he went in search of a first race win. He maintained his lead despite a challenge from Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), although the latter made his way into first at the start of Lap 4.

On Lap 3, Razgatlioglu’s charge came to an end. An engine failure on his M 1000 RR at Turn 9 forced the 2021 Champion to retire and caused chaos behind, as Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) surged up to fourth. However, Rea crashed at the end of Lap 3 at Turn 11 with the race red-flagged on Lap 4. Rea was taken away on the stretcher, but he was conscious and taken to the medical centre for a check-up where he was declared unfit for the re-start. He said he was okay apart from hitting his hip quite hard in the crash.

The race was restarted over an 11-lap distance which took out the mandatory pit stop.

The grid for the restarted race was based on the last completed timing point for each rider, with Bautista lining from the front row alongside Locatelli and Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven), who surged up the order in the first three laps, including an incredible double move on Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) and Rea. Bautista maintained the lead, but the big mover was Rinaldi who went from P6 to second and started challenging Bautista for the lead as they pulled away from the chasing back.

Rinaldi stayed within half-a-second of his former team-mate, although, despite looking like he was attempting a move into Turn 1 on several occasions, he didn’t make a move on the defending champ. Behind, Lowes was closing in on Rinaldi, and eventually passed the Italian for second at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 8. The trio had pulled away from Iannone, who ran wide on a couple of occasions, while Locatelli was fighting back after dropping down the order when the race started.

On Lap 9, Locatelli passed Rinaldi on the exit of Turn 10 as his fight-back continued, although it came to an end on the final lap at Turn 4 when Locatelli crashed while trying to pass Alex Lowes and retired from the race after what had been an incredible performance all weekend. It allowed Bautista and Lowes to fight for victory, and the Brit secured his second win of the day in an almost unbelievable move. He went around the outside of Bautista at Lukey Heights on the final lap. Bautista tried to re-pass the Kawasaki rider, but he was unable and the duo were separated by just 0.048s at the flag.

Locatelli’s crash promoted Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) into P3, after he battled Iannone on the final lap with less than a tenth separating the two Italians. It completed a superb weekend for Barni Ducati, following Yari Montella’s double in WorldSSP.

It was Lowes’ fourth win in WorldSBK, with three of them coming at the legendary Australian circuit. It was also the Brit’s 36th podium, while he claimed Kawasaki’s 180th victory.

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It means Lowes leads the Championship for the first time since Australia 2020. Bautista’s second place was his 90th podium in WorldSBK, while Petrucci’s third place was his fourth rostrum.

Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) recovered from a poor start in the original race to take fifth, finishing ahead of Rinaldi, whose challenge lasted around half the race before he dropped down the order but was still able to claim a top six.

Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) climbed through the ranks to take eighth, with Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) ninth and Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) tenth. Aegerter had initially crossed the line ninth but was penalised with a one-place penalty for overtaking under yellow flags at Turn 4 following Locatelli’s crash.

Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) enjoyed a strong end to his first round with Kawasaki, showing strong pace throughout Sunday that culminated in 11th place and just over five seconds away from team-mate Lowes. In the fight for ninth, Aegerter, van der Mark and Bassani were separated by just 0.031s.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had to start the restarted race from last, after he made contact with Rea’s bike following the Ulsterman’s crash which dropped him to last.

Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was 13th ahead of Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) and Bradley Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team); the Brit scoring a point on his first visit to Phillip Island.

Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was 16th and missed out on points by more than five seconds, and he was four seconds clear of Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) in 17th.

PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team duo Tarran Mackenzie and Adam Norrodin were the last classified riders in 18th and 19th.

Alex Lowes – P1

“It was an unbelievable day! The second race was chaos from the start. It was a little bit delayed, and in the first part of the race Toprak’s bike blew up. I was nearly off track, I did well to stay on. Then, Jonathan had a big crash, so I hope he’s okay. I was dropping back a little bit, but just before the red flag, I had a couple of good sectors to get back on my brother. I had some good speed, and the temperature was down a little bit. My focus in the restart was to make a good start, put myself in the first three or four positions. I knew Toprak wasn’t there, and when he is, you have to ride a little bit more defensively because he’s always going to have a pass. Once I got settled into the race, I was struggling to stay with Bautista a little bit and Michael.

“Locatelli passed me at Turn 4. He was going to hit the back of Bautista, so he went wide and then I managed to stay on the line, stay close to Alvaro because, in my head, I was thinking he was struggling to enter the corner because the grip was going. I knew I could be really fast through Turn 8 and into Turn 9. This was my chance to pass him and try to stop the bike into Turn 10 and 11. I had a little plan, and it went quite well. In the end, I had a lot more grip than Alvaro which allowed me to make this pass.”

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Championship Points

2024 WorldSBK Dates