Álvaro Bautista is closer to the World Superbike title with his triumph in the first Portimão race held this Saturday. The possibility of wrapping up the championship this Sunday remains on the table and could happen in the superpole race. Ducati has already secured the constructor’s title.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) was the strongest at the start, and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), who started from pole position, dropped to fourth and, while trying to recover, came into contact with Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati). Both remained on the track, but the British rider dropped to seventh. The Spanish rider, on the other hand, only reached the podium positions on lap 3.
One lap later, Bautista took the lead, but Razgatlioglu reacted and regained it. The battle continued between the two, with the Turkish rider always having an answer to the championship leader’s attempts… until on the seventh lap Bautista managed to take the lead and defend it.
Despite Razgatlioglu always being close, the defending champion managed to build a relatively comfortable gap, which he extended in the last laps, crossing the finish line with a 2.098s gap. Rea made a recovery race to finish third.
In fourth place was Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), who came out on top in a four-way battle for that position. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki), Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha), and Michael van der Mark (BMW) were also involved. Iker Lecuona was eighth and the best Honda rider.
Results: