Bautista claims 2023 WorldSBK title after Race 1 win at Jerez

Alvaro Bautista was declared the 2023 WorldSBK Champion after overcoming Toprak Razgatlioglu to win Race 1 of the Jerez season finale and marking his 26th race win this season.

Alvaro Bautista secured the WorldSBK Championship for the second time in a row in the season’s final event at Jerez, Spain where the Spaniard emerged as the winner in Race One.

The Aruba.it Ducati rider has won an incredible 25 races leading up to his season-ending home race this year. Despite early pressure from a charging Toprak Razgatlioglu, Bautista easily secured the points he needed to secure the championship win.

Going into the season’s last round where 62 points were up for grabs, Bautista enjoyed a 60-point lead. Meanwhile, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the closest runner as the rider is set to move to BMW for the upcoming season.

Bautista has proven his dominance this season with 28 podium finishes from 33 races as of the previous weekend. His 24 race victories are included in the 28 podiums, giving Bautista an accumulation of more than 550 points.

The San Juan Villicum circuit was scheduled to host the season’s last round in mid October. However, the final round was rescheduled to Jerez, where the paddock faced off for the first time since 2021 after San Juan was canceled.

Actually, Bautista was a strong favorite going into the first race of the weekend for the reason that he just needed two points from any one of the three races, but kudos to the Spaniard for pulling it off in style with a lights-to-flag victory.

Razgatlioglu had to work hard to move up the ranks, dismissing his starting position in the third row to move up to fourth before the conclusion of the first lap. A few laps later, he slid past both factory Kawasaki riders to take third and then second.

Following that, the Turk turned his attention on Bautista, but although outpacing him in the narrow, challenging sections, he was unable to get close enough to launch an assault.

With the race progressing, Razgatlioglu’s assault began to fade away, allowing Bautista to seal the victory and claim the 2023 WorldSBK riders’ title.

Andrea Locatelli finished on the podium after moving up from tenth on the grid to third place behind Razgatlioglu. Halfway through the race, the Italian overcame a diminishing Kawasaki contingent.

Rea managed to hold onto fourth position, edging off a fierce battle for fifth place between two Ducati satellite riders Danilo Petrucci and Philipp Oettl,  who proved to be the fastest on the circuit in the last moments.

Ultimately, Petrucci emerged triumphant from Oettl and Alex Lowes in the final stages to add another top five finish to his record and boost his chances of winning the standalone championship title, especially in light of primary challenger Axel Bassani’s costly DNF.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi ultimately had to settle for eighth place in a race that was tough for some of the front-runners after a lengthy lap penalty for a collision with Axel Bassani, his competitor for fifth in the overall standings.

At Turn 9, the Italian made slight touch with his compatriot and fierce rival, causing an enraged Bassani to receive a rare DNF and significantly reducing the gap between them in the battle for fifth place.

Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge rounded the top ten for Honda, with Remy Gardner and Dominique Aegerter of GYTR GRT Yamaha out of contention despite qualifying inside the top five and Garrett Gerloff falling out of tenth.

With a factory-spec Kawasaki ZX-10RR this weekend, Puccetti Kawasaki achieved its best result of the year in 11th place with Tito Rabat, while Lorenzo Baldassarri also achieved a personal best finish of 12th place on the GMT94 Yamaha. This is a difficult year for the team, which has only succeeded in capturing the points twice in 2023.

The remaining points-paying spots down to 15th were taken up by Loris Baz, Hafizh Syahrin, and the recuperating Garrett Gerloff.

2023 Spain WorldSBK Jerez Race 1 Results