World Superbike champion Toprak Razgatlioglu signs off with victory in red-flagged final race of season at Jerez

The ROKiT BMW Motorrad rider secured his second world crown after a runner-up finish behind Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega in Saturday’s opening race, which sealed the deal for the 28-year-old.

Razgatlioglu took the win by eight 0.812s from Bulega when the race was stopped due to an oil spill on the circuit with four laps to go.

“I gave 100 per-cent for Race 2 because I needed to win again and normally I love fighting a lot, and this time I used (SCX) tyre – normally on Friday when we try ‘X’ tyre I’m not happy, but now, ‘X’ tyre had better acceleration.

“But in the race I was losing the front tyre a lot in many corners, but the front tyre was no problem because everything was under control and I was feeling very good with the front.

“Anyway, we did it again and also I am very happy for ‘Mikey’ (Michael van der Mark); this is an incredible weekend for me because it is the last race and we are on the podium together.

“This is my dream this year and also his dream; fantastic weekend, thank you very much to everyone and thank you very much to all my team, and we will see next year.”

Last year’s World Supersport champion Bulega, who has excelled in his maiden season in World Superbikes, wrapped up a double with another win in the Superpole race on Sunday from Razgatlioglu.

The Italian went into the last race of the championship seeking his first WSBK hat-trick, but Razgatlioglu was in determined mood and set a scorching pace at the front.

Bulega went with his BMW rival as they broke away from the rest of the pack and began to put pressure on Razgatlioglu with around six laps to go, when the leading duo were separated by only a few tenths of a second.

However, Razgatlioglu responded and began to edge ahead, increasing his lead to eight tenths with four laps remaining.

However, the race was halted by a red flag when German rider Philipp Oettl’s GMT94 Yamaha suffered a huge engine failure, dropping oil on the start and finish straight.

A result was declared, taken from positions at the end of the previous lap, with Razgatlioglu wrapping up his 18th win of the season from Bulega.

Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad) was a long way back in third, with Andrea Iannone (Team Go Eleven Ducati) in fourth.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati) were the top six, while Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Rea finished ninth on the Pata Prometeon Yamaha.

Razgatlioglu’s final points tally was 527, with Bulega 43 behind in second.

Alvaro Bautista, the 2022 and 2023 champion for Ducati, finished the season in third with England’s Alex Lowes fourth for the Kawasaki Racing Team.

Six-time champion Rea was down in 13th after a difficult year for the 37-year-old in his first season with Yamaha, ending 2024 without any wins for the first time in his illustrious World Superbike career.

His team-mate, Andrea Locatelli, was the top Yamaha rider in seventh.