WSBK Superbike Estoril Race 1: Jonathan Rea misses, Toprak Razgatlioğlu royal, but Álvaro Bautista imperial!

The Superbike world championship is this weekend in Estoril in Portugal for the third clash of the twelve planned for this 2022 season.

It is therefore in the vicinity of Lisbon that Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) will try to defend its current leadership of 18 points on Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK). Even if the latter and the title holder Toprak Razgatlioğlu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) had a blank result in the Netherlands, the domination of the #19 Panigale is not only due to its consistency, since the Valencian has already obtained three victories this season.

The Spaniard has never raced with the Ducati on this track, which still remained a question mark despite his good results obtained in MotoGP. However, he remained optimistic, even if the qualifications mainly highlighted a duel between Toprak Razgatlioğlu et Jonathan Rea, the latter finally taking the advantage in Superpole by 91 thousandths of a second.

The first line therefore consists of Jonathan Rea, Toprak Razgatlioğlu and Álvaro Bautista, but the latter is already more than half a second behind the poleman. Behind, we find Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) and Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in front Iker Lecuona (Team HRC), Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW), Luca Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) completing the top 10. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) starts from 12th position.

When the red lights go out, Toprak Razgatlioğlu makes the best start and takes the lead Jonathan Rea and Andrea Locatelli, the Ducatis missing the first corner.

At the end of the first lap, the two fastest drivers during the superpole start to escape and Jonathan Rea carries a first attack on the Yamaha official. The Assen incident is still remembered and we hope that everything will go well, but a first contact takes place a few turns later. As a result, the Kawasaki rider lost a few lengths, half a second behind the leader.

Behind, Andrea Locatelli et Alvaro Bautista are also detached in front of the platoon. The Spaniard takes the advantage in the straight with 17 laps to go.

On your mind, Jonathan Rhea tries to come back Toprak Razgatlioğlu by setting the best lap in 1'36.204. Under pressure, the latter widens, which immediately takes advantage of the Kawasaki rider to take command.

Toprak Razgatlioğlu regains the advantage 14 laps from the checkered flag: the message is clear and the fight will be merciless... This can be seen when braking on the straight, where the two men are side by side, the Kawasaki constantly coming to tickle the Yamaha at the slightest opportunity.

Jonathan Rhea takes command again 12 laps from the drop of the flag, once again coming alongside the Yamaha in the straight. Another lap and it's the exact opposite maneuver which allows the Turkish driver to regain leadership.

In the next passage, we don't draw the picture for you, you already know how and where Jonathan Rhea takes the lead again… for a spin.

But in this little game, the two men lose time and Alvaro Bautista begins to get dangerously closer as the sky becomes more and more threatening...

It doesn't matter, the same maneuver is repeated immutably at each pass at the end of the straight line, one move for the Turk, one move for the Briton.

Alvaro Bautista made the junction six laps from the finish while Jonathan Rhea misses braking on the straight and drops back to third position.

From this moment on, the situation seems more comfortable for Toprak Razgatlioğlu who can concentrate on trying to maintain the half-second lead he has over the Ducati rider. But this is not enough and the Panigale joins the Yamaha three laps from the finish, while the Kawasaki, more than a second and a half away, seems to have given up especially since it does not use the SCX, unlike its direct opponents.

The first attack of the representative of Borgo Panigale takes place at the end of the straight but Toprak Razgatlioğlu defends admirably inside.

At the start of the last lap, the R1 maintains its advantage in the now famous braking but despite all the composure and skill of the Yamaha rider not to give in to the pressure of the Spaniard, the latter pockets a new victory at acceleration on the line!

What a race!