World Superbikes: Who will win thrilling three-way battle for the title?

Rea, Razgatlioglu and Bautista dicing for the lead during the Assen round in the Netherlands

To say that the thrilling battle for this year's World Superbike crown is finely poised at the halfway stage would be a massive understatement.

Six rounds gone, six rounds to go, and it's easy to put a case for any of the three leading protagonists to come out top of the pile come the season end in November.

After a six-week break the action resumes at Magny-Cours in France this weekend, with Spaniard Alvaro Bautista heading the standings on 298 points, followed by six-time title holder Jonathan Rea on 267 and defending champion Toprak Razgatlioglu third with 260.

Other statistics from the first 18 races of the campaign confirm the close nature of the contest and the domination of the top trio - Bautista with seven wins, Razgatlioglu with six and Rea with five, the former two riders racking up 16 podiums apiece to date and Rea 15.

Three very different riders, three different manufacturers, three different nationalities, but only one eventual championship winner by the conclusion of this 2022 season.

There have been some scintillating on-track jousts right from the very start of the series, with the promise of much more to come. But who will be the eventual champion?

Bautista seeking redemption

Bautista has won seven of the first 18 races in this year's championship

Alvaro Bautista knows a championship success would go a long way towards making up for losing out to Jonathan Rea in such disappointing fashion in 2019.

The Spaniard claimed 11 straight victories at the start of the season to build up a healthy 53-point lead, but ended up trailing the Northern Irishman by 165 points at the end of the campaign thanks in no small part to a series of crashes.

Despite ultimately amassing a tally of 16 individual race successes, the Aruba Ducati rider finished well adrift as Rea claimed a fifth straight title.

Following that the former MotoGP rider had two years in the relative wilderness in terms of being a title challenger as part of the Honda Racing set-up, but is now back scrapping for the title once again.

Bautista's Panigale V4 R still has a straight-line speed advantage over its competitors and he has found a consistency which was lacking in his championship bid three years ago, a crash at Donington his only spill so far this season.

Among the 37-year-old's achievements so far has been taking his Italian manufacturer over the threshold of 1000 wins in World Superbikes, their tally now standing at 1002.

As the current frontrunner in the points table, the 2006 250cc world champion is the man they have to overhaul as he bids to give the Ducati marque its first championship success since 2011.

Rea battling to reclaim title

Jonathan Rea has extended his deal with Kawasaki to include the 2023 and 2024 seasons

Gone are the days of domination which took Jonathan Rea to many of his six consecutive world titles but the 35-year-old has shown he still has the hunger, ability and fighting qualities required to add to his record tally of crowns.

In fact he seems to be revelling in the challenge of regaining his title and is content enough with the competitiveness of the package provided for him by his Kawasaki Racing Team to have extended his stay with the Japanese marque to take in the 2023 and 2024 seasons.

That partnership is one that, in addition to six titles, has yielded 102 wins and 188 podiums to date. His new contract will take him to 10 seasons with the Japanese marque.

Among the highlights of his season so far were doubles at Assen and Estoril but tougher times have seen him struggle to maintain the pace of his rivals at Misano and Most.

Rea has adopted a philosophy of being as competitive as possible at every round and has scored points consistently and shown all his experience to remain well in the title race.

He appears not to be having to ride on the limit to the same extent as in 2021, when he suffered a series of uncharacteristic crashes, improvements to his bike in the close season having helped in that regard.

Rea has indicated that his team has adopted a proactive approach to keep up with its rivals and although they have not improved anything radically, small changes have been made in areas where they needed to improve.

The remaining rounds will see the teams and riders visit Magny-Cours in France, Catalunya in Spain, Portimao in Portugal, Argentina, the Mandalika circuit in Indonesia and Phillip Island, Australia, which has become the final round, having traditionally been the season curtain-raiser.

Rea has performed strongly at each of the remaining venues in the past, including a plethora of race wins at all of the circuits, although the competition has not always been as fierce as it is this season.

Razgatlioglu roars back into contention

Razgatlioglu has rallied to win five of the last six races in the series

Having endured a difficult start to the season, Toprak Razgatlioglu has breathed fresh life into his title challenge and boosted his hopes of retaining the championship by winning five of the last six races, including a hat-trick at the UK round at Donington.

On the basis of those results, the Pata Yamaha pilot appears to have the momentum entering the second half of the season and his involvement in some titanic battles at the front show that he remains happy to ride bar-to-bar with his rivals.

The 25-year-old renowned braking specialist had to settle for third in the first four races of the campaign, followed by a second position and then a crash at Assen after the Turk collided with fellow title contender Rea.

Razgatlioglu was also denied victory twice on the last lap at Estoril, before a dominant first win of the season in the Superpole event at Misano heralded an upturn in his fortunes.

The defending champion, who will remain with his current team and manufacturer in 2023, also boasts strong past performances at the remaining circuits on the calendar, albeit he required just solid second and fourth finishes in last year's final round at Mandalika to clinch his maiden title.

Razgatlioglu suffered an elbow injury in a heavy fall during testing at Barcelona in recent weeks but has shrugged off any suggestion that may impact on his performances on the resumption of the season.

In addition to factors directly under the control of rider and manufacturer, tyre choice and the continuing development of tyre technology are set to play a crucial role in the destination of the 2022 world crown.