Alvaro Bautista won the World Superbike race in Estoril by overtaking Toprak Razgatlioglu in a drag race to the finish line.
In the early stages of the race, Bautista fell to fourth place behind Andrea Locatelli’s Yamaha, and by the time he overtook the Italian, he was already three seconds behind the leading pair of Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.
However, as the race went, Bautista was able to close in on the rear of the duo, turning the race into a three-way battle for victory.
On lap 16, Rea was driven out wide when Razgatlioglu covered the inside line while braking for Turn 1, allowing Bautista to race through and take second place.
Bautista sustained the pressure on Razgatlioglu for the rest of the race, while Rea fell behind the pair, with the two separated by just a few tenths in the final laps.
When Razgatlioglu successfully defended from the Ducati rider into Turn 1 on the penultimate lap, it appeared that he was on his way to his maiden win of 2022. However, the Turkish rider made a poor exit going out of the final curve, allowing Bautista to swoop through and win the race for Ducati.
With his fourth win of the 2022 season in seven outings, Bautista extended his championship lead by 0.126 seconds. Meanwhile Rea, who had been unable to keep up with the speed of Bautista and Razgatlioglu with his harder-compound rear tyre, finished nearly five seconds behind the leaders.
After clipping the back of Razgatlioglu’s Yamaha at Turn 6 in the early stages of the race, the Ulsterman was fortunate to finish the race. Finishing fourth, Locatelli was clearly the best of the rest, beating out the Hondas of Xaxi Vierge and Iker Lecuona.
In the latter stages of the race, the two Honda riders were able to pass Scott Redding’s faltering BMW, with the British rider sliding to ninth after being passed by fellow countryman Alex Lowes on the second factory Kawasaki.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi fell out of the top ten early on, but was able to make up some ground later on to finish ninth, slightly ahead of leading independent rider Loris Baz on the Bonovo MGM BMW.
Xaxi Fores accomplished a great performance as a last-minute replacement for injured Philipp Oettl on the Go Eleven Ducati, finishing 11th ahead of Motorcossa’s Axel Bassani.
2022 WORLD SUPERBIKE ESTORIL, PORTUGAL – RACE 1 RESULTS
| POS | RIDER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
| 1 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | 21 Laps |
| 2 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | +0.126s |
| 3 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +4.835s |
| 4 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | +17.079s |
| 5 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +19.107s |
| 6 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +19.215s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +21.956s |
| 8 | Scott Redding | GBR | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +23.090s |
| 9 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +24.104s |
| 10 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +25.212s |
| 11 | Xavi Fores | SPA | GoEleven Ducati | +27.516s |
| 12 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +30.686s |
| 13 | Luca Bernardi | SM | Barni Spark Ducati Team | +39.599s |
| 14 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha | +39.643s |
| 15 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | Bonovo Action BMW | +41.735s |
| 16 | Marvin Fritz | GER | Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +41.854s |
| 17 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +42.790s |
| 18 | Christophe Ponsson | FRA | Gil Motor Sport Yamaha | +50.082s |
| 19 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | MIE Honda Racing | +1 Lap |
| 20 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +1 Lap |
| 21 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | Pedercini Kawasaki | +2 Laps |
| 22 | Leandro Mercado | ARG | MIE Honda Racing | DNF |
