Holding a 60-point lead over Toprak Razgatlioglu with only 62 available heading into the weekend, Bautista needed just two points no matter what results were for the Yamaha rider.

The 2023 campaign has been an even more dominant one for Bautista compared to his first, starting with a triple win at the very first round as part of his 24 race wins prior to the Spanish round getting underway.

That’s 18 more than his main rival Razgatlioglu, who had kept himself in the championship hunt through his stunning consistency. 

That form continued with Bautista winning race 1 from pole in Jerez, ensuring the 38 year old has won a race at every round the World Superbike paddock has visited in 2023.

The records did not stop there with it being back-to-back world titles – a feat not managed on a Ducati since Carl Fogarty in 1999. The only other more recent rider with mutiple titles to his name is six time champion Jonathan Rea.

Bautista celebrated the win in style – changing into golden race leathers for his return to parc ferme and the podium presentation, enjoying the atmosphere of taking the title on home soil, with his fan club well represented.

In terms of numbers Bautista takes the title with a total of 591, holding an unbeatable 65 point advantage over Razgatlioglu The Turkish rider is currently on 526, with more points still on the table for the duo in Sunday’s races.

Speaking to WorldSBK after the race Bautista was clearly elated:

“What can I say, it’s a perfect weekend until now, yeah I’m so happy it’s incredible to win a detail but it’s more incredible to defend a detail and to do it in your home race, it’s something that even in my best dreams I can’t imagine this and also I’m so happy. I felt so good all the weekend – thanks to everybody here because the track is incredible -full of people! Thanks to them, for everybody for coming here, thank you to my team because they support my really well throughout the season, Ducati, the sponsors, yeah – a perfect day for me today!”

Bautista still has two more chances to add to his title winning tally on Sunday, with the Superpole race and race 2 still to be run at Jerez.

24.01.2023 |
Gordon Ritchie |
WorldSBK

Aruba.it Ducati’s WorldSBK Champion Alvaro Bautista unveiled his number one plated Panigale V4R on Monday.

The unique experience of a double MotoGP and WorldSBK season launch was formulated as much of a celebration of the 2022 double Ducati World Championship success as it was a peek into the immediate future thanks to the glitzy launch, high in the Italian Dolomite mountains.

The Aruba duo of Bautista and continuing teammate Michael Rinaldi were not there for long – as they prepare for the Jerez WorldSBK tests which will take place between 25 and 26 January – however there was time for a quick chat with the media before they departed.

“This is my third year with a factory Ducati, and I have been close to the top many times,” Rinaldi said when asked about what he would personally like to see in 2023. “I have some wins but I have never really fought for the title.

“The goal is to fight for the title this year. I want that.

“I have change a lot my preparation of the new season. Now I am in really good shape and I cannot wait to jump on the bike in the test. Fourth in the championship is not enough for me. I am not happy for that when the championship ends.

“It will not be easy as the championship level is really high, but I think I have the cards to win races and if I miss the championship it is just because I need to improve something on myself,” he continued. “The bike is competitive to fight for the title and it is me. I have to look in the mirror and the only one who can make this happen is me, and the only one who can f*** this is me.”

Bautista, sporting the number one lettering in the same style as the ‘1’ on his previous ’19’ plate, said of the latest task of staying ahead of Razgatlioglu and Rea in 2023, as he did in 2022, “I work more or less in the same way as I have been working in the last few years. Sure, everybody can improve themselves. I have tried to work, especially in my mentality side, with focus and being calm. So I work more in this area that same way that I was working in the last few years.

“I don’t know what the other riders work on during the winter but it is not my problem,” he admitted. “I am just focusing on myself and trying to improve myself. I will try to be a better rider than last season. Last season worked really, really well, but I know that I made some mistakes, maybe some of them you can see, but some others you cannot. But I try to improve in those areas that last season I struggled more.”

25.10.2022 |
Gordon Ritchie |
WorldSBK

Although Alvaro Bautista won two WorldSBK races at San Juan, both the long 21-lap affairs, he missed out on winning the Superpole race. He was confronted with the possibility that he decided to leave out any overly hard effort at winning the ten-lap race, but rebuffed it completely.

He just knew that it was a big ask when Razgatlioglu was in such a determined mood. But if Rea had not run off track, Bautista actually thought that it was going to be Rea’s ten lap victory, breaking his long drought.

“No, to beat Toprak today, because I think he wanted to win just for this, after yesterday,” said Alvaro about the eventual real on-track challenge he faced. “The only thing that has to be in his mind is to win. There is no other option. So, he tried. I know that. First of all, if Jonathan didn’t make a mistake, I think he would have won the race because he was stronger than Toprak and me.

“In fact, Toprak was behind him pushing to the maximum, and when Jonathan made a mistake, the pace of Toprak slowed down. So for me, Jonathan today had the pace to win the race. So, when I saw that, and I saw Toprak go slower, I said, ‘let’s try…’ Maybe I can fight for win. But he defended everything. He tried entry, everything, everywhere. At the end I tried a couple of times and in the last lap but he just pushed me out because there was no space.

“I went out, out, out, out, out and I had to wait. I tried to go in a couple of times, but he was there always, so I had to wait. Then he turned, and then I was late. I lost there all my chance to fight for the victory.”

And Bautista underlined that he really does want to fight for the victories, big points lead or not. “In any case, I didn’t think second is OK, just relax. No! Always I see that I can win, I do. Like in the afternoon, although the track was more difficult than yesterday, more slippery.”

Because of the heat? “Yeah. Well, I think yes. I didn’t make the start but at the same way, it was good because at least some rider in front of me discovered the track, the situation. Then when I saw, this is the maximum that the track will allow you to push, ‘OK, let’s do it.’ I just tried to not make a mistake. I saw Toprak was very close to me and I thought, shit… If he stays behind me all the race, he’ll try at the end for sure because his only chance, he has to win.

“I said, OK, don’t think about nothing. Just push and give your everything. I gave my best. I didn’t think about points, about crash, about championship, about nothing. Just try to be focused, try to don’t make mistake, try to use all the limits of the track that allows me to go faster. At the end, I can get some advantage that allowed me to arrive with some gap at the end. But believe me, today I gave my everything, in the Superpole race and also in Race Two.”

Even after what looked like a pivotal weekend to most people in the championship fight, Bautista said he is still looking in the now, because that’s the happy place that has taken him 82 firecracker points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and 98 ahead of Rea.

“No. It’s better no, because why? This way that I’m doing the things is going well. I enjoy a lot. I don’t feel pressure because I don’t think about the result. I just think about the moment, about the performance. Why change the mentality? I have to keep this mentality like if there is not a championship. This is 2022. Next year 2023, so it’s like a continuation.

“It’s not like now finished. No, this is one race more, one race more, one race more. We have now two rounds, but then big stop and then 15 races. It’s better to enjoy the moment.”

There was one bizzare potential pitfall for Bautista at the end of the weekend, as in Race Two he was touching down his left foot entering some corners (as many riders do these days) that he literally wore a hole through his boot. Not at the sliders, but at the toes, to the centre and underneath the designed-in toe-slider area. Lifting his foot up, you could clearly see his toes through the many layers of his boot’s protectiove materials.

“Normally I use the left foot in the braking point, because like balance or a reference,” said Bautista. “This track is one of the more aggressive tracks for this. I have a hole in my boot and I touched with my toe I broke through my sock as well. So I have my toes sticking out of the boot. I need like a steel flat track boot.”

31.10.2022 |
WorldSBK staff |
WorldSBK

Pata Yamaha WorldSBK team boss Paul Denning remains positive about retaining the series title with two rounds left but knows the size of the task ahead.

Rider and reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu has a 82-point deficit to leader Alvaro Bautista as Mandalika looms large but Denning isn’t ruling out the almost-impossible.

“I think we came here thinking that the championship was more or less finished, to be honest. Unfortunately race one’s result, and the level of the results of Alvaro here, mean it’s pretty much done, to be honest, but let’s at least try to take it to Phillip Island,” said Denning, speaking in Argentina.

“Let’s try to be competitive in Mandalika, fight for wins there, try to beat Alvaro and at least put him under a little bit of pressure in Phillip Island. That’d be nice. Never say never.”

Denning also discussed Razgatlioglu’s Superpole Race win in Argentina, describing it as “one of his best” wins. Razgatlioglu and Bautista were fighting hard all race but there was an incredible conclusion to the 10-lap shootout as Razgatlioglu looked to re-gain first position into turn nine, the scene of his race one crash, on no fewer than three occasions after Bautista had passed him down the long back straight, including on the final three laps of the race.

“I believe it was three times at Turn 9 he passed Alvaro. I said on the pit wall to Phil, his crew chief, that it shows the level of confidence he has to pass such a good competitor at the corner where he crashed. That was a positive sign. The race was one of the most exciting of the year.

‘It was clear that Toprak’s tactic had to be to put himself in front in the right part on the last lap, with the knowledge that you are always going to be behind at the end of the straight with the performance deficit being so significant here. He rode more than the limit. It’s difficult to say, he’s ridden so many incredible, crazy, good races but I think this was one of the best.”

Bradley Ray had done enough after race one to claim the 2022 trophy and it was just as well as his difficult weekend at Brands Hatch continued with a fall in race two and a cautious sixth in the final race.

Ray spoke of how glad he was to have gotten business done early and how his plans to relax and enjoy the final two races and finish the season on a high  didn’t go as planned:

“After yesterday I just wanted to get wrapped up and get it done and relax and on Sunday I wanted to try and push and have a good couple of results. But I got a bit eager in race one  and made a small mistake at turn one, I ended up upside down in the gravel, so, wasn’t ideal.

The boys got a whole new bike ready for race two and I wanted to bring it home for the boys.

A little lost for words at his achievement yesterday Ray was more able to reflect on his new #1 plate with some time to let it sink in, saying:

“I knew that this would be my best chance to fight for the championship with Yamaha and Rich Energy OMG, so we just got our heads down and took everything in our stride. It allowed us to come to Brands with enough points to have a difficult round like we have!”

His home track may not have brought any rostrum visits – Brands Hatch is still the only round where Ray is yet to grace the podium, but there were plenty of highlights over the eleven race meetings:

“The first win on the Yamaha was special and doing the triple at Snetterton was something quite special, but honestly I think the biggest thing for me this year is keeping a cool head in all scenarios and all situations. It hasn’t been easy.

 

‘I believe I made a huge step in myself’

 

Glenn Irwin had the most to cheer at Brands Hatch as he almost repeated his epic season start – the triple at Silverstone. Ending his season with two wins saw him secure as runner up in the title hunt.

Irwin credited the work Honda did on the bike and his colleague Takumi  Takahashi’s development of the swing arm to a place where he felt comfortable to use it too, but cited his own work on his shoulder injury as his season game-changer:

“I followed that up with some treatment on my shoulder, despite the surgery last year, it still never…was ‘right’. It really hindered me still on track – that was probably the biggest thing. The bike developed …but having that limitation- a major limitation -that I’ve had my whole career pretty much, from half way through the second year in Superbikes, we went to the physical tracks like Oulton – we could fight, we went to Donington, we could fight, we went here, we could fight, so the bike made a huge step but I believe I made a huge step in myself.’

On winning the final race Irwin was pleased but a little disappointed not to have bookended his season with two trebles:

“This weekend’s been great, I wanted three from three, I really wanted it after yesterday!”

Race two didn’t go the Northen Irish riders way, but he still managed a podium finish in third, it gave him a determination to finish the year in winning form, sizing up the weather as as bigger rival to his hopes as the racers on track:

“In that race things felt good immediately, I went into tyre saving mode but then I had to work hard – I knew the rain was going to come and that if it comes this time of year it is going to be greasy and they’ll stop it quite quick so, it wasn’t a panic but it was very clear target to get the lead.”

 

‘It’s good to go out on a high’

 

Peter Hickman was the best of the riders not in the Showdown so was awarded the Rider’s Cup for taking ninth ahead of Danny Buchan, who was ahead of him in the final race, third to his fifth.

He reflected adding:

“It’s a super strong end to the season for us, which is nice, it’s always nice to go out on a high. It’s been a tough year but ending up with the Rider’s Cup trophy, it’s good you know, the biggest achievement or biggest thing we can look at after not getting in the Showdown is to be top BMWcfor us which is what we managed  to do so that’s really what the aim was after not making the Showdown”.

 

‘I feel exhausted to be honest!’

 

Tommy Bridewell did make the Showdown and finished third overall.The #46 was up against it for the runner-up spot in the championship after an issue with his Oxford Products Ducati saw him heaved off of the grid and start race two from pitlane. Arguably providing the race of the day he managed fifth in that race, then went one better to finish his final time on track this season fourth in race three.

The effort from race two had taken it’s toll on the usually chipper Bridewell:

“ I feel exhausted to be honest! All in all a great year. Difficult in some aspects as coming from last year finishing second, taking it to the wire with Tarran [Mackenzie] it was absolutely expected that we should be able to hit the ground running, come straight into the season to try for the championship, but, to be honest, this year was a steady start really -we had a different dynamic to the bike.

It took a while to get it back up to where I expect. Then we got the bike better and I was able to ne a lot more comfortable and fight stronger.

Finally, Bridewell took the time to focus on what makes BSB so special, it’s family-like, community atmosphere:

We’ve also lost some amazing characters along the way, with obviously losing Chrissy [Rouse] – we’re all a small, close community here so when we lose a rider like that it’s a big impact. Obviouly overseas riders have been lost, so we never take anything for granted”.

06.10.2022 |
Christina Bulpett |
WorldSBK

Aruba.it Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista heads to Portimao fully motivated after his first WorldSBK hat-trick in three years.

The ninth round of the 2022 season is the final stop in Europe before the trio of flyaways that conclude the year, with Autódromo Internacional do Algarve promising a rollercoaster weekend.

Bautista holds a 59-point advantage as he arrives in Portugal with the Spaniard hoping to build an even-bigger cushion over title rivals Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.

“After the Barcelona hat-trick, I am obviously very motivated,” Bautista said ahead of the final European action. “We’ll go to Portugal with a great charge and that has an impact not only on me but on the whole team.

“In any case, our approach will be the same, as if nothing had happened. We have to work with high concentration right from FP1 to see what our chances will be at the weekend.

“The Portimao circuit is quite tricky as it is not easy to find a perfect set-up around the track. In the same way, though, it is a circuit where I have always had fun.”

06.10.2022 |
Christina Bulpett |
WorldSBK

Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea heads back to where it all began as WorldSBK prepares for Portimao this weekend.

The scene of his debut in the Superbike class back in 2008, Rea has 13 victories at the Algarve venue already under his belt with Assen the only circuit to see him score higher.

Two days of testing since Barcelona a fortnight ago – at both Catalunya and Motorland Aragon – has the team well prepared for the rollercoaster 4.6km layout as the 2022 WorldSBK Championship looks to bid farewell to Europe, with Rea aiming to bridge the gap in the title fight before he takes off for faraway shores.

“Portimao is a great circuit, and one which has a lot of special memories for me,” Rea reflected ahead of round nine. “I had my first ever WorldSBK race there in 2008.

“The circuit itself is very challenging. It has a lot of different characteristics, from slow corners to fast ones, blind entries and apexes, so there is a lot of rider input required.

“We have enjoyed some success there. After Barcelona, where we were able to extract the full potential from our Ninja ZX-10RR, I expect to go to Portugal and keep working with my team to create a good race package.

“The race in Portugal is also cool because I have a lot of travelling support from Northern Ireland there. It is a great circuit for viewing as well. The target is to have a really good weekend. I really want to get back to winning ways after this mid part of the season, where I have had a bit of a win drought.

“Our team has had two good days of testing recently; one at Barcelona following the race and one at Motorland. We have a lot more information now and I am excited to put that to good use in Portugal.”

06.10.2022 |
Gordon Ritchie |
WorldSBK

Former WorldSBK king Jonathan Rea and Axel Bassani had a crowd-pleasing fight last time out in Barcelona and while it looked like hard work for the KRT man, it gave him more insights into Ducati’s world – and that of title-rival Alvaro Bautista – to compare to the work he knows with Kawasaki for the remainder of the season.

“For example, when they change gear, the first exits of the corner, I’m there and I can be there,” Rea told bikesportnews.com on the Sunday at Catalunya. “It’s more about balance and electronics.

“But as soon as they change gear and then the straight, like for example, I could ride on to him – It’s funny, if you have an on-board camera, you’ll see in the last corner I can come like this, but as soon as they change gear, I just keep my position. Same with nine to ten.

“Pere [Riba] gave me a really good bike at the stop. So, I was not frustrated with this, and of course he [Axel] was riding his own race, but there was one point he wasn’t going forward, and I was trying to show, ‘hey I’m here.’ But as soon as I went through, I went a little bit wide and he stuffed me again. Like, [Iker] Lecuona and Alex [Lowes] are going, I want to go with them! But, he was fighting his race. He was doing a good job.

“I don’t know where he finished, but for me, it was just a little bit frustrating because I couldn’t just pass in the straight. I had to really stress the tyre in acceleration. That was not my plan. The plan was to preserve the tyre, but when you’re stuck and you can’t pass in the straight, you have to use the tyre. You have to push the tyre to get there.

‘So, I was like, ‘I need to pass but I don’t want to use the tyre. I have to go’. So, it was a little bit like that. But I also I feel with the speed, I can be there. If we do another superpole, I’m sure I’m at the front. But, with the race, with Alvaro’s pace, I feel I’m not going to win. So, it was more about understanding where I could be. We had two strategies. Try to go with Alvaro, like Toprak [Razgatlioglu] did – in the end, this was the wrong strategy. Or be the tortoise and the hare. So, I thought my Saturday is more the tortoise.”

From what Rea had understood before he even came to Catalunya, knowing it was going to be tough, has Bautista’s advantage much more to do with the speed or that his rival’s bike uses the tyre better?

“Both,” he said. “For example, Friday morning I was behind Alvaro. Just taking his slip stream I was two-tenths quicker in sector one. Just with the slipstream. And that’s one acceleration. So, you count all accelerations at full gas in the circuit, it adds up in the laps. So, that’s the quantity of risk you have to take to be with him.

“Of course, he’s riding really strong as well. You have to manage everything. In a crucial circuit like this, where the tyre consumption is a lot, being 20 kilos less than me is also very good for the tyre. So, I think they have a better package than us here.”

14.09.2022 |
Gordon Ritchie |
WorldSBK

The fallout – literally – between Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista after their final WorldSBK race impact at Magny Cours had several results. The main one for the other rider in the championship fight, Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, was that he is now second overall, not third.

Rea ended Sunday not just 47 points behind Bautista’s lead but 17 points behind Razgatlioglu as the Turkish rider won two races and recovered from his own race one crash to score points for 11th place.

As ever, Razgatlioglu had an element of understatement in his summation of his overall trip to France. “This weekend is a strange weekend,” the Yamaha rider admitted.

“The three championship riders in the front – everybody crash. I don’t understand this weekend.

“But I’m very happy, first, because today, two races I won. I didn’t see Alvaro crash, and also my team didn’t show me the pit board. But I think this is better because maybe I see the board and maybe I’m would be not pushing for the win. I don’t know. But, I’m not again looking the championship. I’m just focused race by race. Today I watched Michael [Ruben Rinaldi] and also he’s very strong today. He’s improving. I’m just watching. I see he start sliding last eight laps and I said, ‘I need to pass him and after try a good pace for the race’. After I pass him, I ride much better because there was just big problem for me first sector. The Ducati is very fast the back straight. Anyway, I’m happy.”

There was no repetition of the brake problems that Razgatlioglu experienced on Saturday when he won both races on Sunday. His success at Magny Cours now placing him inside the all-time top ten race winners list, ahead of Carlos Checa. Toprak now has 26 wins and Checa, 24.

After his two wins, and moving into second place, Razgatlioglu said he was not looking at either of his championship rivals, so he could not give an answer as to which one now poses more of a threat. He did get a chance to watch ‘The Incident’ on video, and said, “Now I watched the video. Difficult because this is a race. Everybody tries their best. Jonny tried to pass him in corner 13. Also, for me the short race, I passed Alvaro same corner. The other corners, because he’s very strong, the acceleration is unbelievable and you are not possible passing again Alvaro. Just corner 13 you are possible passing him. Also Jonny tried this corner. Maybe did a mistake, maybe not. I don’t know. But, he’s not trying to crash Bautista. I think he just tried to pass him, but he crashed. I think he’s not happy about this. I understand him because he needs to pass here, and after he tried to catch me.”

Razgatlioglu also praised the performance of some rivals behind the 2022 big three, who are giving the lead riders a hard time. And he even thinks he learned something from them. “I’m really happy because also I see Bassani in the front, and Rinaldi,” he explained. “I’m really happy because when it’s just Bautista, Johnny, Toprak, this is not nice. There are some riders coming, and I’m enjoying it. This is very good. I’m just watching Bassani and Rinaldi and I’m just waiting in the race. But, I’m very happy to see these guys in the front. Bassani the first corner and second corner is very fast. In the race, I improved first corner and second corner because I saw Bassani. Rinaldi is also fast in corner six and seven. I saw him and I improved six and seven. This is good because everybody is fast in some corners, and we are learning.”