The Spaniard Álvaro Bautista, who secured the Superbikes world title last Sunday in Indonesia, starred this Saturday with a fifth place in Phillip Island (Australia), the stage of the twelfth and last test of the season, in which the British Jonathan Rea obtained his victory number 118 in this discipline of motorcyclism.
About six months after his last triumph (Estoril, in May), Rea, the Kawasaki pilot who has been six times world champion of Superbikes, marked the race 1 with a proper strategy in the change of tyres.
The Norwegian pilot charged with great authority the Turkish Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) and his team mate the also British Alex Lowes in a race that started in mojado and finished almost in a sec after 22 laps.
A strategic move by the boxes to change to a pneumatic “slick” when the asphalt had dried, halfway through the course, resulted in a decisive decision to disengage the test.
Rea was one of the first to enter a box, in turn 10 together with Razgatlioglu, and took a quarter when the pilots that preceded them had not yet made it to the parade. In round 15 he was in the head, while Bautista entered round 11, one after his two big rivals.
The Italian Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) finished fourth over Bautista (Ducati) in the last part of the test, shortly after he hit Lowes on lap 17, taking advantage of the difficulties the Italian had to turn his Panigale V4 after To install entrada en boxes.
The results, however, cost Ducati for sure, a lack of Sunday’s career, the title of manufacturers 2022, for the tenth time in Superbikes.
The five firsts of the career 1 of Phillip Island:
1. Jonathan Rea (GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK)
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (TUR, Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +6.247 seconds
3. Alex Lowes (GBR, Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +15.435
4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +19.369
5. Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +19.369