Superbike world champion Alvaro Bautista helps Ducati teammate Nicolo Bulega at the WSBK in Estoril by refraining from attacking in the second race
There was no early World Cup decision at the penultimate WSBK event of the season. Until the season finale in Jerez next weekend, it remains to be seen whether Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) or Nicolo Bulega (Ducati) will go down in history as world champions. However, it is clear that Alvaro Bautista (Ducati) will not defend his title. With the crash in the first WSBK race at Estoril, the dream of defending the title was over.
Bautista presented himself as a strong team player on Sunday when he refrained from attacking Ducati teammate Bulega in the final race (to the race report). In the second half of the race, Bautista was the faster of the Ducati factory riders, but did not take points away from Bulega.
Even before the last WSBK event in Aragon, there was an agreement that Bautista should not finish directly in front of Bulega. The 39-year-old Spaniard stuck to it.
Bautista is proud that he was able to ignore his racing instincts.
“I could have attacked him to finish second. But it was the right thing to let him take second place,” notes Bautista. From third on the grid, he shot to the front at the start. ‘I tried to ride at my pace,’ reports Bautista, who, as usual at the start of the race with a full tank, was not as strong as towards the end of the race.
“When Toprak overtook, I couldn’t pick up speed to follow him. I had a small problem coming out of turn 6 and Nicolo pulled past,” reports Bautista. ”I looked to see if Nicolo had more than I did to follow Toprak. But I realized that he was struggling like me. I stayed behind him. In the final laps, I probably had more and could have attacked him.”
“But he still has a chance, however small, to fight for the title. It was better from a team perspective to stay in third place so that Toprak doesn’t score more points,” said Bautista, explaining his cautious approach in Sunday’s race, adding: ‘I’m proud of it because it’s not easy for a driver not even to try.’
Bautista had to suppress his racing instincts. “It’s strange because it’s not how I usually approach things. I always try to achieve the maximum. It was the first time in my career that I’ve done something like this. But there’s a first time for everything,” comments the Spaniard.
What chance would Bautista have had of overtaking Bulega in the final phase? “I felt like I could brake harder than Nicolo in the final laps. In some areas, he held me up. There were a few places where I could have tried it. But I won’t say which ones, because I might need them next year,” says Bautista, already looking ahead to the 2025 WSBK season, when he wants to take the crown back.
Nicolo Bulega 46 points behind before the season finale
The 46-point deficit means that with 62 points still to play for, Bulega has a small chance of securing the WSBK title. In the Superpole race, the Italian showed strong form and won a direct duel with Razgatlioglu for the first time.
“I really enjoyed the Superpole race. It was a great race. I overtook Toprak in the last corner and had a lot of fun,“ Bulega describes the sprint race on Sunday morning.
”I’m particularly pleased because Toprak is very difficult to beat, especially on the last lap. Maybe it was the best race of the season, in any case one of the best of my career,” Bulega comments on the success in the sprint.
In the second main race, Bulega was unable to fight for victory. ‘Toprak was very fast. It was difficult to beat him. But I’m happy because I was able to delay the decision of the World Championship until the season finale,’ Bulega is happy with P2.
The WSBK rookie did not want to comment on the Ducati team order. “I didn’t have a strategy, I just pushed 100 percent. I can’t say anything more,” said Bulega.
