Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu claimed his second victory of 2021 after dominating the opening WorldSBK race at Donington Park with a storming start from 13th on the grid.

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea consolidated his championship lead with second place in the 23-lap contest, team-mate Alex Lowes joining him on the podium after a fightback from eighth on the opening lap.

Mixed conditions and last minute tyre gambles was the name of the game as the grid lined up for race one. Rea launching from pole ahead of Michael Der Mark and Tom Sykes, with teammate Alex Lowes slotting in behind, in fourth. With no rain across midday, the race was declared wet with the damp track expected to dry quickly and the majority opting for slick Pirelli tyres.

As the lights went out, Rea retained the advantage with the holeshot, leading Sykes into the first corner as Razgatlioglu stormed the start, picking off the riders around him before claiming second by the time he got to Coppice. A Redding, Gerloff, Lowes battle for sixth ensued before the Ducati rider went down through Craners on the second lap.

Razgatlioglu was flying as he took the lead from Rea, in a similar move to his earlier strike on Sykes. Rea sliding off line as he attempted a challenge before off-tracking across the grass half a lap later.

With Razgatlioglu pulling away, the Kawasaki regrouped in second, Van Der Mark beginning to home in as Lowes hassled Haslam for fifth and Sykes circulated in the middle of the two battles, in fourth.

The BMW pair were starting to lose touch as Razgatlioglu and Rea maintained a two and three-second advantage respectively out front, with Sykes falling back into the clutches of Haslam and Lowes. The second Kawasaki got the better of the Honda on lap six with just half a second now to bridge to Sykes ahead.

Andrea Locatelli became the first victim of the Donington layout as he crashed the Pata Yamaha out of contention at the top of the Craner Curves. Razgatlioglu having a moment out front with 16 laps to go.

Alvaro Bautista worked his way up to ninth on lap nine as Eugene Laverty continued his progression to 12, ahead of Luke Mossey but seven-seconds back from Chaz Davies. There was a similar gap out front for Van Der Mark as he circulated in third, Rea 7.8s ahead but failing to break Razgatlioglu’s dominant lead. The two BMW’s now travelling in tandem as Sykes caught up, Lowes hard on his wheels with Haslam and Garrett Gerloff battling one-second behind.

Lowes was quick to take the advantage as the two 1000RR’s bickered for position, contact demoting the Dutchman to sixth as both Lowes and Gerloff took their opportunities, Sykes taking his lead on the second group with Haslam bringing up the rear in seventh.

A tight three-rider battle ensued as Lowes repeatedly took a look at Sykes with the American waiting to either pounce or pick up the pieces. The moment came at the Melbourne loop as Sykes went wide, Lowes sliding through with Gerloff hard on his wheels before the GRT Yamaha took third, working the Pirelli SCX-rear hard as the next lap began.

Disaster struck with seven laps to go as Gerloff crashed out at the final corner, the American quickly back up and running in ninth as Lowes picked up the final podium position.

A solitary race unfolded back at the front as Razgatlioglu sat 4.3s ahead of Rea, the Northern Irishman a further 12-seconds away from Lowes as Sykes and Van Der Mark navigated the closing stages over a second adrift in fourth and fifth.

Regrouped, Gerloff was charging hard as he attempted to recover from the earlier off, advancing to seventh with five to go as he dispatched Lucas Mahias and Bautista but with 17-seconds to Haslam in sixth, any further progression was too big an ask.

The closing laps saw Rea settle into a steady rhythm rather than push to challenge, consolidating his second position for a further haul of 20 championship points as Razgatlioglu strengthened his title-bid - after confirming his future in the championship - with his seventh WorldSBK victory, despite spluttering across the line as he looked to run out of fuel.

Lowes secured a podium celebration on his 200th WorldSBK race, taking third before pushing Razgatlioglu back to the pits on the cool down lap. Sykes took fourth from teammate Van Der Mark with Haslam sixth. Gerloff consolidated an impressive comeback to seventh as Bautista, Mahias and Axel Bassani completed the top-10. Davies took the flag in 11th from Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Laverty with Mossey and Issac Viñales taking the final points positions, Loris Cresson the remaining finisher.