Estoril, Round 1: Bautista wins the World Championships in an epic/superbike duel

The 2022 World Supersport Championship races will be held in Estoril without Michael van der Mark (BMW), Philip O’Tel (Ducati) and Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha). The German will replace Xavi Fores, in MotoXracing Marvin Fritz will drive the Yamaha R1 in place of the injured Roberto Tamborini.

In the Superpole, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) improved the record by 0.5 seconds, but in practice, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) shone with the fastest times. World Championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) is always close by.

Because the asphalt was cooler than it was in the practice sessions, Rhea relied on SC0 racing tyres. Razgatlioglu and Bautista SCX are the softer ones.

In the first half of the race, Rea and Razgatlioglu pulled out ahead and fought back as if the race was about to end. But since lap 15, Bautista turned the duo into a triple – a Ducati star who had been stuck behind Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) for a long time.

Bautista inherited second place on lap 16 after Braking Rhea and has since chased Razgatlioglu. The two changed positions several times, with the Yamaha rider benefiting from his exceptional performance on the brakes. But the Spaniard used the power of a Ducati to overtake the Turks the entire length of the house. Rea is eliminated from third place.

Honda put in an encouraging first race performance with Iker Lecuona’s fifth place and sixth place for Xavi Vierge. Scott Reading was also long impressed by strong lap times and his place in the top five, but in the final third of the race the Englishman was back in eighth place where he was still the best BMW driver.

Marvin Fritz (Yamaha) showed an impeccable performance in the first round and in 16th he only missed a few seconds 1/1000.

This is how the race went

Start: Razgatlioglu ahead on the first turn, then Rea and Bautista. Lecuona in fifth, Redding in 7. Fritz in fifteenth.

Lap 1: Razgatlioglu 0.1 seconds before Rea. Bautista dropped to fourth place behind Locatelli (3rd). Then Lowes, Redding, and Lecuona. Mercado failed.

Lap 2: Razgatlioglu and Rea 1.4s are ahead of Locatelli and Bautista. Fritz at 15.

Lap 3: Rea follows Razgatlioglu like a shadow and hits the rear wheel to let go – this time without crashing. Bautista can’t get past Locatelli.

Lap 4: Razgatlioglu is 0.5 seconds ahead of Rea who clocked the fastest lap at 1:36,204 minutes. The third new Bautista. Redding remains in fifth place ahead of Lecuona and Lowes. Fors and Fritz compete for 15th place.

Lap 5: Reaction slowly nibbles back at Razgatlioglu. Bautista (3rd place) is 2.8secs behind. Vinales gives up the race.

Lap 6: Razgatlioglu misses the perfect line, Rea slips in and becomes the new leader.

Lap 7: Driving Rea and Razgatlioglu to the extreme, Bautista can’t get any close.

Lap 8: Razgatlioglu presses Riya at the end of the straight line. Locatelli (fourth) is already 4.4 seconds behind.

Lap 9: As Razgatlioglu and Rhea fight up front, Bautista crawls a little closer. Fritz (16) two seconds behind Lucas Mahias in 15th place.

Lap 10: Now Rea takes the lead at the end of the straight line on the brakes. Bautista was shortened to 1.9 seconds.

Lap 11: It’s very close between Rea and Razgatlioglu, especially in the first corner. Bautista benefits from this: only 1.4 seconds! Locatelli is fourth, already 7.2 seconds behind. Reading (fifth) catches up with the Italian.

Lap 12: Bautista only drives in 1:36.867 minutes less than 1:37 minutes.

Lap 13: Rea remains at the front, Razgatlioglu on the rear wheel. Bautista back 1 sec. Reading, Licona and Verge are vying for fifth, while Fritz lost 16th to Luca Bernardi (Ducati).

Lap 14: Reaction misses a turn 1 – Razgatlioglu up front, Bautista is now second.

Lap 15: Razgatlioglu 0.5s ahead of Bautista and 0.8s ahead of Rea. Redding (7th) is behind Lecuona (5) and Vierge (6).

Lap 17: Razgatlioglu and Bautista with identical times. Rea (third) is already 1.3 seconds behind.

Lap 18: Bautista 0.041 off Razgatlioglu! Rea can no longer keep up and hold back.

Lap 19: Razgatlioglu struggles on his Yamaha to stay ahead of Bautista.

Lap 20: Bautista is in front for the first time, but Razgatlioglu hits the brakes.

Final lap: Bautista uses the power of Ducati to cross the finish line 0.124 ahead of Razgatlioglu, with Ria in third with 4.8. Fritz misses the points by 0.080 seconds for 16th place.

World Superbike result: Estoril, race 1
location	Driver	Motorcycle	the time
1.	Alvaro Bautista	ducati
2.	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	+ 0.126 seconds
3.	Jonathan Ria	Kawasaki	+ 4835
4.	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	+17,079
5.	Xavi Verg	Honda	+ 19.107
6.	Iker Likona	Honda	+ 19.215
7.	Alex Louise	Kawasaki	+ 21956
VIII.	Scott Reading	BMW	+ 23090
9.	Michael Rinaldi	ducati	+ 24.104
10	Loris Baz	BMW	+ 25212
11.	Xavi Force	ducati	+27516
12.	Axel Bassani	ducati	+ 30686
13.	Luca Bernardi	ducati	+39,599
14	Kota Nozan	Yamaha	+39643
15th	Eugene Lafferty	BMW	+ 41735
16	Marvin Fritz	Yamaha	+ 41854
17	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	+42.790
18	Christopher Bunson	Yamaha	+ 50,082
19	Hafez Syria	Honda	> 1 minute
20	Oliver King	Kawasaki	> 1 minute
21	Isaac Viñales	Kawasaki	> 1 minute
Outside	Leandro Mercado	Honda

Place the 2022 World Superbike Championship after 7 races out of 36
location	Driver	Motorcycle	points
1.	Alvaro Bautista	ducati	134
2.	Jonathan Ria	Kawasaki	107
3.	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	84
4.	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	68
5.	Iker Likona	Honda	60
6.	Michael Rinaldi	ducati	50
7.	Xavi Verg	Honda	41
VIII.	Alex Louise	Kawasaki	37
9.	Axel Bassani	ducati	34
10	Loris Baz	BMW	34
11.	Scott Reading	BMW	27
12.	Garrett Gerlove	Yamaha	25
13.	Philip Otel	ducati	15th
14	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	14
15th	Michael van der Mark	BMW	11
16	Eugene Lafferty	BMW	11
17	Ilya Michalchik	BMW	9
18	Roberto Tamborini	Yamaha	9
19	Luca Bernardi	ducati	9
20	Christopher Bunson	Yamaha	VIII
21	Xavi Force	ducati	5
22	Leon Hassan	Kawasaki	3
23	Kota Nozan	Yamaha	2
24	Leandro Mercado	Honda	1