World Superbikes: Alvaro Bautista crowned champion in Indonesia as Razgatlioglu takes hat-trick
- Published
Alvaro Bautista has won 14 races so far in his title-winning 2022 season
Alvaro Bautista was crowned World Superbike champion in Indonesia despite Toprak Razgatlioglu taking a hat-trick of wins at the Mandalika circuit.
The Spanish rider's second place in race two was enough to secure his first title with a round of races at Phillip Island still to come next weekend.
Bautista holds an unassailable 66-point lead over nearest rival Razgatlioglu.
The ex-MotoGP rider is the first Ducati rider to win the series since Carlos Checa in 2011.
He becomes the third different rider from a third different manufacturer in three seasons to claim the title, following on from Razgatlioglu and Yamaha in 2021 and Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki in 2020.
Bautista winning the title also meant that for the first time in history Ducati claimed both the WorldSBK and MotoGP riders' championships in the same season, with Italian Francesco Bagnaia winning the latter.
In Sunday's second feature race of the weekend, Rea moved into the lead in the early stages, before Razgatlioglu passed him at Turn 10 on lap six to take over at the front.
With Bautista in third at this point, behind Rea, he latched onto the back of the six-time champion and went through on the same corner on the seventh lap, taking advantage of Rea running onto the kerbs through Turns eight and nine.
The two frontrunners went head-to-head in a thrilling battle in the final third of the race, allowing Rea to close back in.
Bautista made a pass to move into the lead as he looked to win the championship with a victory and the duo both enjoyed further spells at the head of the field but Razgatlioglu emerged the winner, extending his lead to over one second by the chequered flag, with Northern Irishman Rea third.
Andrea Locatelli, Axel Bassani and Scott Redding made up the top six.
For the Turkish rider, it was his 14th race win of the season and the 32nd of his career, the defending champion having also won the Superpole sprint race earlier in the day.
Razgatlioglu was made to work hard in that 10-lap event too, being pushed all the way by Rea before coming out on top, with Locatelli third and Bautista fourth.
World Superbike standings
1. Alvaro Bautista (Spa) Ducati, 553 points
2. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Tur) Yamaha, 487
3. Jonathan Rea (GB) Kawasaki, 450
4. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ita) Ducati, 279
5. Andrea Locatelli (Ita) Yamaha, 245
6. Alex Lowes (GB) Kawasaki, 234