ROKiT BMW Motorrad’s Toprak Razgatlioglu took a record-equalling 11th straight WorldSBK win with victory during Race 1 at Portimao, finishing ahead of a resurgent Alvaro Bautista and courageous Danilo Petrucci.
Razgatlioglu lined up on pole with 10 consecutive race wins in his back pocket, alongside Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes and Barni Ducati’s Petrucci, who started on the front row for the first time in 2024.
That left the Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s duo of Nicolo Bulega and Bautista to start on the second row of the grid, with Razgatlioglu’s BMW team-mate Michael van der Mark sat between them.
Lowes got the holeshot with Petrucci following him into Turn 1 to displace Razgatlioglu to third at lights out, as Bautista suffered a shocking start, falling from sixth to 13th.
However, by Turn 5, the championship leader was back in second with Jonathan Rea challenging Michael van der Mark for fifth throughout the opening lap.
Van der Mark, like Rea, was looking racey and pounced on Bulega on Lap 2 of 20 to take fourth, with sixth-placed Rea making it a genuine three-way battle.
Rea followed van der Mark’s lead to pass Bulega on Lap 3, with the Yamaha rider looking at a season-best in the early stages.
Razgatlioglu challenged Lowes into Turn 1 on Lap 4, but the Kawasaki driver held his nerve as Petrucci also tried his hand at lunging upon the top two.
Rea’s strong race almost came to an untimely end that same lap as he lost the front of his Yamaha R1 in pursuit of van der Mark at Turn 13, dropping down to seventh as a result.
Starting Lap 5 saw Petrucci take the lead over Lowes with Razgatlioglu now third with his BMW team-mate right on his tail.
An incredible battle was unfolding in the top four as Razgatlioglu punched his way into second at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 6, only to run deep at Turn 5 to lose ground to Lowes once again, slotting back in front of van der Mark.
Turn 1 was the prime passing location with the steep downward braking zone and both BMWs drafted past Lowes at the start of Lap 7.
Lowes was able to fight his way back in front of van der Mark, which saw Petrucci and Razgatlioglu open up a 1.1s gap at the front of the field with 12 laps remaining.
Lowes and van der Mark’s fight also invited Bulega and Bautista into the fight for the podium.
Meanwhile, popping out of the slipstream on the start/finish straight was Razgatlioglu, passing Petrucci into Turn 1 only to relinquish the lead as the pair got to Turn 2 on Lap 10.
Further back, Bulega dropped from fifth to seventh with Bautista and Bonovo Action BMW rider Garrett Gerloff progressing at the Italian’s expense.
Bautista continued to show strong pace as he pushed past Lowes to take fourth at Turn 4 on Lap 11.
Starting Lap 12, with nine full tours remaining, Razgatlioglu got passed Petrucci into Turn 1, but once again the Barni Ducati rider was quick to respond, pulling a block pass to regain the lead at Turn 3.
This brought van der Mark and Bautista into the fight, with four riders now nose to tail.
On Lap 13, Razgatlioglu made his Turn 1 move stick and van der Mark looked to follow him at Turn 3, but Petrucci fought hard to retain second, giving the championship leader some slight breathing room out in front.
Van der Mark fell to fourth at the start of Lap 14 to Bautista, as Razgatlioglu stretched his advantage over Petrucci to seven-tenths of a second.
With six laps to go, Petrucci then slashed that advantage to four-tenths with the race far from being settled.
Petrucci was pulling Bautista along with him and the reigning champion, running in third was the fastest rider on the track with five laps to go.
On Lap 17, just over five tenths covered the top three and an 11th straight win for Razgatlioglu looked far from being certain.
Razgatiolglu looked to extend his slight advantage and he was helped as the two Ducatis battled through the opening few corners on Lap 18 with Bautista eventually winning out to sit second with two and a half laps to go.
Bautista had eight-tenths to recover at this stage, but could he pull it off?
With two laps to go, it looked as if Razgatlioglu had put the battle to bed, extending his advantage to one second over his long-time rival.
The Turkish rider extended that advantage to 1.2s with a lap to go and duly converted that to claim his record-equalling 11th straight victory.
Razgatlioglu now shares that record with Bautista, who recovered well from his poor start to finish second and despite falling back in the final few laps, Petrucci finished a fine third.
Gerloff’s strong ride was rewarded with an impressive fourth-place finish, with Lowes eventually finishing fifth aboard the Kawasaki Racing Team ZX-10RR.
Van der Mark looked set to complete a ROKiT BMW one-two early on, but the Dutchman faded slightly to finish sixth aboard his M 1000 RR, one place ahead of Bulega.
Lowes’ Kawasaki team-mate Axel Bassani finished eighth, with GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team’s Dominique Aegerter and Remy Gardner completing the top-10.
Pata Prometeon Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli finished 11th, Iker Lecuona leading the Team HRC charge in 12th, ahead of his Honda team-mate Xavi Vierge.
Puccetti Racing Kawasaki rider Tito Rabat took 14th with Rea’s early race promise failing to reap much reward as he finished in the final points paying position.
