2018 Donington World Superbike Race Two Result: A Tale Of Two Tyres

World Superbike race two started under a threat of rain, with teams practicing pit-lane tyre changes. Gino Rea had to start from the back of the grid after he had to pit in before the sighting lap. 

With the reverse grid putting Michael van der Mark, Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes on the third row, Alex Lowes headed the Aprilias of Lorenzo Savadori and Eugene Laverty under the lights. As the lights went out, Savadori and Laverty passed Lowes into the first corner, but as everyone tried to improve their places in the first few corners, lots of places were swapped. Leon Haslam slotted in behind Savadori with Alex Lowes behind him while Loris Baz pushed Laverty to fifth. The places settled and the bikes strung out and, as the field got to the twisty tight section of the track, with its chicane and two hairpins leading to the short start/finish straight, Alex Lowes took second place into the Fogarty Esses and, on the second lap, he took the lead as everyone jockeyed for position as they hit the Esses for the second time. Local hero Leon Haslam overcooked the Melbourne Loop hairpin and crashed out of second place and Tom Sykes passed Jonathan Rea under a yellow flag for fifth place.

At the start of lap three, Alex Lowes led Lorenzo Savadori and Michael van der Mark in the leading group of three bikes, with Loris Baz in fourth, ahead of the all-Kawasaki battle of Tom Sykes, Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu. Rea tried to pass Sykes round the outside of the Craner Curves, but Sykes held his nerve and his place. Marco Melandri caught the battling Kawasakis but a mistake at the Melbourne loop meant he had to watch them charge out of range. 

Alex Lowes set the fastest lap on lap three and had a healthy gap from Lorenzo Savadori, but his Yamaha teammate Michael van der Mark, winner yesterday, passed Savadori on the Craner Curves and the Yahamas had a 1-2 on the new fat tyre.

Yesterday, Lowes, van der Mark and Savadori were the only riders to use the Pirelli SC0 W1002 development tyre, but today several riders changed to the profile that won yesterday's race and filled three of the top five places. Chaz Davies, Leon Haslam, Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioglu, Marco Melandri, and others further back on the grid all changed to this chubbier rubber. Yesterday, Motomatters spoke to Honda World Superbike's tyre technician to better understand the development tyre, and learned that the bigger tyre requires several changes to the bike, including changing the ride height and, surprisingly tyre warmers. The cost of getting slightly longer warmers and changing their software is made up for with improved corner grip on short tracks like Donington where a bike spends a lot of its time changing direction a lot. (pic)

On lap eight, and the "C" development tyre, Jonathan Rea took third place from Lorenzo Savadori at the esses, and a lap later set the fastest lap of the race closing down the Yamahas at the lead. Toprak Razgatlioglu then started harassing Savadori; the top five were now all on the rear development tyre.

On lap ten, as Rea closed the gap to van der Mark, Rea hit the kerb and his foot fell off the left peg at the Old Hairpin, but it didn't slow him down. Further back, Razgatlioglu took fourth from Savadori at the Melbourne Loop hairpin, but he handed it straight back going wide at Goddards, heading to the start/finish straight. 

And then the rain turned up.

Limited adhesion flags came out in the second sector, the third of the track before the Esses, but nobody slowed down. Razgatlioglu was glued to the back of Savadori as the leading three built a gap of two seconds from the Aprilia, but they would soon start fighting amongst themselves. Michael van der Mark missed his braking and went wide at the Melbourne Loop, giving Rea the opportunity to take second place and scrap with Alex Lowes. 

Three hectic laps later, Michael van der Mark received the SMOOTH message on his put board once again. Jonathan Rea on turn one of lap fifteen took the lead from Alex Lowes, but Lowes took it right back and the race continued. 

The rain had abated.

On lap seventeen of twenty three, Jonathan Rea stuffed it under Alex Lowes's Yamaha at the Melbourne Loop, and Lowes fought right back, getting the lead back on the exit. Rea tried again into Goddards hairpin, and he held the lead across the line. Michael van der Mark took second place from Lowes at the start of lap eighteen, and at the end of the lap, he took the lead from Jonathan Rea at the Melbourne Loop, followed by Alex Lowes pushing Rea to third. Rea took second place back at Goddards, but the leading three were joined by a very quick Toprak Razgatlioglu. 

Michael van der Mark, Jonathan Rea, Alex Lowes and Toprak Razgatlioglu. One of them wouldn't be on the podium, and on lap twenty, Razgatlioglu passed Lowes at the Old Hairpin. Lowes immediately looked behind and it was clear that he was at his limit and would not be able to fight back.

Jonathan Rea was no longer hounding van der Mark, and the Yamaha rider set his fastest lap of the race, leaving Rea and Razgatlioglu to fight it out for second place. On the last lap, Razgatlioglu made a hard clean move at the Craner Curves to take second from Rea, but van der Mark was two seconds ahead, obeying his crew's smooth order. 

Michael van der Mark won his second race in two days, in spite of the reverse grid, and joined the pantheon of double-race winners, and, a day on from the first Dutch win, Turkey had their first World Superbike podium with Toprak Razgatlioglu silencing the doubters convincingly in second place. Jonathan Rea in third still managed to extend his title lead, with Chaz Davies and Tom Sykes finishing behind fourth-placed Alex Lowes. 

Results: