Bautista ends Ducati’s Donington woes: "If you told me I’d have 1st, 2nd, 1st… I wouldn’t have believed you!"
The expectation heading into the UK Round was that Ducati would struggle but Bautista silenced the doubters with two wins in the UK
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) secured a double at the Prosecco DOC UK Round to end Ducati’s Donington Park difficulties and extend his Championship lead over his rivals. As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship hit the halfway stage of the season, the Spaniard claimed two victories at Donington Park, a circuit he hadn’t won at previously, as he ended the Italian manufacturer’s drought at the iconic circuit which stretched back to 2011.
Bautista lined up from second place after Saturday’s Tissot Superpole session but made his move for the lead just shy of the halfway point of Race 1 and, from there, he didn’t look back as he secured his first win at Donington and ended Ducati’s drought. Before Saturday, the Bologna-based factory hadn’t won at the stunning British venue since Carlos Checa took Race 2 victory in 2011 but they returned to the top step of the rostrum thanks to Bautista.
In the Tissot Superpole race, the Spaniard was demoted to second. He fought hard with rivals Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), with the Ulsterman leading for the majority of the 10-lap fight before the 2021 Champion overtook him and then Bautista went through on the final lap. In Race 2, Razgatlioglu was able to keep the Ducati rider at bay for the first two-thirds for Bautista got ahead to claim his second win of the weekend as he extended his Championship lead to 93 points, and now has 16 wins to his name this season.
Summing up the weekend, Bautista said: “It was a great weekend for me because if you told me before we came here, I would have a first, second and first, maybe I wouldn’t have believed you! At this track, we always struggled a little bit. Every year is different. The feeling with the bike was amazing, it was like at other tracks. I could ride as I want. I enjoyed Race 1 a lot. Everything was new for everybody with the asphalt. We had some data on Sunday. The pace in the Superpole Race was amazing with Jonathan pushing really hard and then Toprak trying to follow him. In the end, he tried to stay in front of Jonathan. When I saw that, I thought, ‘maybe they’ll start to fight’ and I have the chance to overtake them. The pace was also amazing in Race 2, it was really fast. Toprak was very strong. I thought I could go a couple of tenths faster than him and I tried to stay in front. He tried to not let me lead the race, but I could make a gap and get some advantage.”
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