Jonathan Rea seals Portimao podium as Alvaro Bautista puts one hand on World Superbike title in Portugal

Bautista chalked up a record 22nd victory of the season on the Aruba.it Ducati as he won comfortably in the end following a battle with Pata Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu, extending his championship lead to 52 points with five races of the season remaining.

Ducati clinched back-to-back manufacturers’ titles with one round to spare, underlining the dominance of the Panigale V4R.

Rea sealed the 43rd pole start of his career to lead the front row from team-mate Alex Lowes, with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha) third in a surprise top-three in qualifying.

Razgatlioglu was fourth fastest and was joined on the second row by Bautista.

On the opening lap, 2021 champion Razgatlioglu made a flying start to lead into the first corner from Lowes, while pole man Rea dropped back and clipped the rear of Bautista’s Ducati, but managed to avoid crashing.

The Ulsterman, who has won 13 times in Portugal, slipped to seventh as a result of the incident as Razgatlioglu set the pace from Lowes, Bautista and BMW’s Michael van der Mark.

Lowes, back in action after injury, hit the front past Razgatlioglu on the brakes into Turn 1, while Rea was making up ground rapidly, improving to fifth ahead of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Ducati) and Team HRC’s Iker Lecuona.

Rea hauled himself into fourth behind Bautista on the next lap after passing van der Mark before putting a move on Bautista for third.

At the start of the fourth lap, Rea went wide at Turn 1 with Bautista snatching the lead briefly, before Razgatlioglu forced his way through to the front again.

Lowes, leading at the end of the third lap, suddenly found himself in fifth.

Rea and Bautista exchanged passes for second with the Ducati rider edging ahead and setting his sights on race leader Razgatlioglu.

Bautista used the speed of the Ducati to drive past Razgatlioglu on the main straight on laps six and seven, but Razgatlioglu was able to fight back on each occasion as he refused to go down without a fight.

However, Bautista came past again on lap eight and this time was able to hold off his title rival, opening a gap of six tenths.

With clear track ahead of him, the Spaniard settled into a rhythm and began to stretch his advantage as Razgatlioglu tried everything he could to keep Bautista in his sights.

Rea remained third, a long way behind Razgatlioglu but clear of the battle for fourth between Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW), Lowes, van der Mark and Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha).

Bautista eventually broke Razgatlioglu’s resolve and went on to clinch his 22nd victory of the season by two seconds, putting one hand on the world crown.

American Gerloff took fourth behind Rea, who was 6.7s down on Bautista, with Lowes and Gardner (GRT the top six.

Van der Mark and Lecuona completed the top eight.

Locatelli finished ninth on the Pata Yamaha after starting from the front row with Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) completing the top 10.

On Sunday, the Superpole race is at 11:00 BST with Two at 14:00 BST.