RiderTua.com – From position 3 on the grid, Alvaro Bautista made a braking error at the first corner after the start. After that, it was as if the Ducati rider had no chance at all to fight for victory. He needed four laps to beat the factory Yamaha rider, Andrea Locatelli who was in third position. For 10 of the next 21 laps, the Spaniard was between 2 or 3 seconds behind Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), who fought epic duels and took every opportunity to overtake each other. But in the end, Power Ducati’s strength on the straight track was able to beat Toprak in the last seconds before the finish line. Bautista’s speed made Toprak shake his head in cash. “The two of them (Toprak-Rea) were engaged in constant duels, that’s what narrowed the distance (Bautista was finally able to get close),” said Alvaro.
Alvaro Bautista Makes Toprak Razgatlioglu shake his head
After 15 laps, Rea’s front tire was so badly worn that he made a serious mistake, braked incorrectly and Bautista quickly overtook him. On the last lap, the standings leader was also able to beat world champion Toprak Razgatlioglu and win by 0.126 seconds. The Yamaha rider shook his head in exasperation before even reaching the finish line. Meanwhile Bautista and his Aruba Ducati team could hardly believe the unexpected victory.
Bautista tried to analyze, “Yamaha is very strong at this track, the braking is good and the bike can be controlled well. It was only when Locatelli’s rear tire wore a little bit that I was able to take the opportunity to overtake him. By then Toprak and Jonathan were so far away that I never thought I could catch them.”
“I’m happy to be in third place after I made a mistake in the first corner. After that, I just focus on the race and try not to make mistakes. I stopped pushing to overtake them. It doesn’t make sense because my distance is always the same, up to 0.1 seconds or not. But the two were engaged in constant duels, which narrowed the gap.”
“That’s when I thought, that maybe something will happen if they keep fighting like this or if they make a mistake. I kept my cool, didn’t allow myself to be tempted to push and kept going at the speed I had. I’m always close to my limit, but never in danger of going over it.”
In the end the strategy paid off. Bautista overtook Toprak two laps to the finish and had time to plan the decisive maneuver. “I was just stronger than him in the last corner. I have more traction there. So I tried to be as close as possible to him at the last corner and then accelerated it,” said the 37-year-old racer.
“I played my cards and won, I’m very happy. Mainly because I never gave up and always persisted to stay calm. I’m not nervous even if I lose touch. I would have been happy with the podium, but my consistency and overtaking maneuver paid off. At Estoril, I was not as strong as at other tracks.”
This was Bautista’s 20th win in the Superbike World Championship, and his 4th in 7 races this season. The Ducati rider extended his lead in the overall standings over Rea who was ranked 2nd to 27 points. Razgatlioglu in 3rd place is 50 points behind.
