Bautista kickstarts title defence with flawless weekend in Australia

The Champion scores Phillip Island’s hat-trick with Rea eighth and Razgatlioglu out in Race 2

With three wins out of three at Phillip Island, Bautista became the first ever WorldSBK rider to score two hat-trick at one track following his 2019 triple. It was also his eighth win at ‘The Island’, making him the most successful rider at the circuit.

The 2022 WorldSBK Champion leaves Phillip Island as the Championship leader with a 28-point advantage over second-placed Andrea Locatelli.

P1 | | Alvaro Bautista | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati
“I think it’s the best way to start the season. I’m happy because we were quite competitive in all three races with three different situations. Yesterday with the rain we were quick, and we could win the race. Today, in the morning, with not cold conditions but cooler than in the afternoon and the soft compound and with everybody pushing, we were competitive as well. In the afternoon, it was totally different. The track was hotter, and we had the hard compound on the rear. I’m happy because I can manage and adapt to the new situation, and I can be very consistent with my lap times. The feeling with the bike has been amazing this weekend in all conditions. Now, we have to enjoy the moment and just try to keep this feeling for the next one.”

It was a Ducati 1-2 in Race 2 as Michael Ruben Rinaldi claimed second place, finishing 6.191s behind his teammate and taking his second podium of Sunday after having finished second in the Tissot Superpole Race.

P8 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK
“In Race 2, I saw Locatelli up the road, and I thought, ‘he’s my guy’ as he has good pace this week. I got to the front of the group and ‘Loka’ was in front and he was just going away! I realised that I was just fighting with this group and then all of a sudden, bang, I had no grip whatsoever. I was really conserving my tyre, using short lines and picking the bike up, not smashing into the traction control. We just need to put our heads together and understand why because a few months ago, I was able to compete and be much faster in the race for a longer distance. It’s a bit of a head scratcher to be honest. I don’t think this result reflects the true reality of where we are; I felt like in the off-season, we’ve really improved the bike, but it is true, a bad day right now in WorldSBK and you have to fight for these positions. We have to make sure we don’t suffer too many bad days from now on.”

“It’s tough, I’m not going to lie. When we have grip, we can make the difference; the rider can bite the screen a bit harder and take liberties. I felt like at Turn 1 today, I left nothing unturned every lap and that was just to be there. You can’t do that for 22 laps of a race here when you have to look after the tyre. I have to take some responsibility as well as my crew, as I have directed the setup this week and it’s clear that we didn’t get it bang on. We have to look ourselves as well. I really feel that whilst the competition is strong, the bike is much better than we showed this weekend.”

DNF | Toprak Razgatlioglu | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK
“I was waiting until the last laps for the fight. I was trying to follow and tried to keep the rear tyre because, in the first laps, I felt no grip. This morning with the SC0 tyre I’m happier because the bike worked really well. In the afternoon, we used the hard tyre and the bike completely changed. We crashed with Alex. This was very bad luck. This is just the first round of the season, there are many races to go. I hope we are coming back again. It was a small crash, I’m okay. He crashed alone. We used different lines. For me, it was bad luck because I was on the outside and we crashed together.”

WorldSBK Race 2 Report

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