The p𒐪air had one of their closest battles of the seas𓃲on in the early stages of Race 1 before the reigning WorldSBK champion pulled clear.

Something that’s becoming a regular o🌠ccurrence for R⛦azgatlioglu, the Yamaha rider had the pace to match Bautista when plenty of grip was available.

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But as the tyres started to drop Bautista got faster and faster and was able to 💟set lap times that pushe🤪d Razgatlioglu into setting his fastest laps of the race, albeit they were still a few tenths slower.

Disappointed to miss out on a feature length race win once𒊎 again, Razgatlioglu told Wor♓ldSBK.com: "I’m waiting for 100 wins! We have time for this. Today, wasn’t a bad race. 

"I’m not 100% happy because I finished the race in sec𒁃ond position. My goal✃ is to win a race. 

"In Race 1, I was feeling goo⛎d but when the tyres started to drop, I saw the Ducati still had 🉐very good acceleration. I tried to keep fighting with him, but it wasn’t enough. It’s better than nothing."

Like Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea also showed🎀 very strong pace during the first half of the race before coming across the line in a quiet third place. 

The Kawasaki rider was able to keep pace with the two leaders whilst they 🦋were battling, but when Bautista finally got the lead on lap eight, the gaps started to grow between the top three.

Rea said: "It was very tough! One of those races wherꦯe I didn’t expect to be on the podium, even if it’s always the target. 

"After a very tough Fr✅iday and Superpole, starting from 7 was difficu꧙lt. I cut through the traffic very well in the first laps and got good track position, but then I didn’t have anything for Toprak or Alvaro. 

"They were just a little bit faster than me but I was the best of the rest.♒ We need to improve in some areas for tomorrow; the bike feels quite good in the heavy braking zones but finishing the corner, we’re not good enough. 

"We have some good data to move tomorrow and for the 🔯Superpole Race, I feel like we can be competitive enough; we need to get a good start and see where we are."