First podium of the season for Team HRC and Bautista at Motorland Aragón

Team HRC has successfully completed round four of the Superbike world championship at Motorland Aragón, scoring its first podium of the 2020 season with Alvaro Bautista, who finished third with his CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP in today’s second Superbike race.

The 10-lap Tissot Superpole race got underway at 11am in warm and sunny conditions. Sixth on the grid, Haslam made a good start and was lying seventh through the initial laps, followed by his team-mate in eighth. Bautista then passed the Brit on lap three, before making up two more positions to move into fifth place on lap seven. Passing Razgatlioglu on the very next lap, the Spaniard held fourth position all the way to the line to score his best race result of the season thus far. Haslam lost a little ground mid-race and was lying tenth on lap seven. The gap that had opened up between him and those immediately ahead proved impossible to close, the Brit therefore concluding the race in tenth position.

Lining up for race 2 later in the afternoon, Bautista benefitted from a second row start thanks to his Superpole race result. Lying fourth through the first corners, the Spaniard was able to move up inside the top three on lap two, battling briefly with van der Mark to defend third through the subsequent laps. Thanks to his consistently strong pace, Alvaro was able to stick within a second of the second-placed rider for almost the entire race and secure the squad’s first podium of the 2020 season, crossing the line a clear third.

Tenth on the grid, Haslam was able to make up two positions already on lap one to place eighth. Fighting as part of a group of three riders, the British rider was lying ninth on lap eleven. Caught up in a four-way battle in the final stages of the 18-lap race, Leon pushed hard and gained two places through the very final corners, closing seventh and scoring valuable championship points in the process.

Team HRC will remain in Spain as round 5 of the WorldSBK championship will take place next weekend (4-6 September) at the very same Motorland Aragón circuit.