Donington Park World Superbike - Race (1) Results

Alvaro Bautista breaks his Donington Park jinx with a first-ever World Superbike victory at the British venue on Saturday, and Ducati's first since 2011.

The Spaniard’s 15th win from 16 races this season came after an early battle between the WorldSBK big three of Bautista, Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.

All took turns at the front, Bautista snatching the holeshot from pole starter Rea before a big moment into the Fogarty Esses put the Kawasaki back in front.

Razgatlioglu then took up the baton, passing Rea for the lead at the Melbourne Hairpin on laps 6 and 7.

The Ulsterman responded with some brave passes on the exit of the Old Hairpin and entry to Starkey’s. But the Turkish rider learnt from the first and cut back under Rea next time around, retaining the lead while Bautista demoted Rea to third soon after.

Bautista completed his comeback when he rode around Razgatlioglu’s Yamaha on the back straight to regain the lead on lap 9. The Ducati star then punched out fastest race laps to break Razgatlioglu’s challenge, before managing his advantage over the last ten laps.

The final podium place was a closer contest with Petrucci hunting down Rea in pursuit of a debut WorldSBK rostrum.

The double MotoGP race winner was almost within striking distance of the ZX-10RR by the penultimate lap, but Rea responded to confirm his first podium since Catalunya and the 250th of his WorldSBK career.

Andrea Locatelli, Alex Lowes, Axel Bassani, Scott Redding, Tom Sykes and Remy Gardner completed the top ten. Redding passed stand-in BMW team-mate Sykes into the Melbourne Hairpin on the last lap.

Bradley Ray and Garrett Gerloff tangled at turn 1 of the race, leaving them both in the gravel.

Bautista’s team-mate Michael Rinaldi dropped to the back of the field after an unseen issue on the opening lap before recovering to 13th.

Loris Baz and Iker Lecuona failed to finish, the Honda rider walking away from a late accident. Philipp Oettl suffered a technical problem in the final laps.

After damp conditions in practice, the race was fully dry.

The Superpole race and Race 2 will take place on Sunday.

• Donington Park: 2023 World Superbike results

Donington Park has been resurfaced since the 2022 event, where Toprak Razgatlioglu took all three wins and eventual champion Alvaro Bautista suffered a rare retirement and managed just one podium.

Donington Park 2022:
Race 1 winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha
Superpole Race winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha
Race 2 winner: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Yamaha