Bautista executes tyre strategy to perfection for win, Rea left ‘disappointed'

Unfortunate to miss out on victory in the Superpole race as Toprak Razgatlioglu delivered one of the performances of the season, Bautista was not to be denied as he claimed a very important win in his bid to become world champion.

Seen as a round that was supposed to favour Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea, Bautista instead lost one point to the Yamaha rider over the course of the weekend, while gaining points on Rea in every race. 

After spending several laps watching Razgatlioglu and Rea during the opening stages, Bautista made his way through to the lead with just over half-race distance complete. 

Setting a very hot pace knowing he’s traditionally kinder on his tyres, Bautista’s charge was too much for Rea to handle as the six-time world champion began to suffer with tyre degradation with eight laps to go - the same happened to Razgatlioglu with four laps to go. 

Asked about his incredible straight line speed, Bautista was quick to deny that being the main reason for his win: “Yeah but at the end there is only one straight on the track. I’m so happy because I did a good start and I stayed in the front group,” Bautista told WorldSBK.com in parc ferme. 

“At one point I saw Jonathan [Rea] get the lead and Toprak [Razgatlioglu] stayed behind him so I thought that maybe Toprak had more than him because the lap time was not too fast like yesterday or like this morning, I thought Toprak was saving the tyre. 

“I thought if I take the lead [of the race] and put a faster pace then I can make the others use more the tyre. I did it and at that moment I saw Toprak was behind me. 

“He was very close but maybe he had less tyre and at the end he struggled a little bit more than me. More than the victory, I’m so happy because of the way we won.”

Rea’s winless WorldSBK streak continues

A round that has been his most successful on the Superbike calendar, Portimao was ultimately  a disappointing weekend for Rea, who was beaten by both Bautista and Razgatlioglu in all three races. 

Without a win since Estoril in May, Rea added: "I can’t grumble too much. I gave it my all and honestly I’m a bit disappointed with the weekend because I thought I could get back and get some race wins under my belt, especially as I have so much support here, so thanks to everyone back home for coming out. 

"My team worked hard all weekend to give me a bike to try and fight with. I was there, I was enjoying the fight, but as soon as Alvaro got the lead he was gone. 

"Well done to Alvaro and Ducati and well done to Toprak, he hung in there and I was just the best of the rest today."