Viegas discusses Estoril Round: "One of the best weekends of racing I’ve seen… Estoril was special!"
The FIM President was at the Circuito Estoril and discussed his thoughts on an epic weekend of racing and the 2022 Championship battle
As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned to the Circuito Estoril for the 2022 Estoril Round, FIM President Jorge Viegas visited the Championship to enjoy a thrilling weekend of action with three last-lap shootouts in WorldSBK. Viegas, elected as FIM President in 2018, was on hand to discuss everything from the Estoril Round’s incredible racing to the unpredictability of the Championship.
All three WorldSBK races were decided with last-lap battles with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) beating Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) in Race 1, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) capitalizing on an error by Razgatlioglu in the Tissot Superpole Race and Rea fighting back to beat Bautista in Race 2.
Reacting to the incredible on-track action at Estoril, Viegas said: “I think this was one of the best weekends of racing I have ever seen. All races, WorldSBK, WorldSSP, WorldSSP300, were fantastic. I think the public really enjoyed it because these are real races. Here, I think it was the most competitive, the most emotional because nobody knew who was going to win. You saw that a lot of races were decided over the finish line and in the last turn. I think the season up to now is great. The first three are really, really fighting for the victory in every race but Estoril was special.”
Following the results from Portugal, Bautista has a 17-point lead in the Championship over Rea with Razgatlioglu 52 points back from the Championship leader, with five races in 2022 so far being decided with last-lap battles with six races, two-thirds of all races run in 2022 decided by less than three tenths between the top two.
Explaining his thoughts for the remainder of the Championship, Viegas believes it will be an unpredictable affair between the top three after their incredible battles so far in 2022. He said: “Can you tell me who’s going to win, in any class? This is what is so good in this Championship is that you cannot bet on any of the front riders. This will be like this until the last race, I’m sure.”
Watch more incredible WorldSBK action throughout 2022 using the WorldSBK VideoPass!
