Race report

World Superbike Aragon

Aragon WSBK: Rea beats Bautista to win in last-lap thriller

Six-time World Superbike champion Jonathan Rea pipped Alvaro Bautista by just 0.101s in an nail-biting duel to begin his 2022 World Superbike campaign with a victory at Aragon.

Rachit Thukral

Edited: Apr 9, 2022, 4:01 PM

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Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WSBK

The Kawasaki rider first overhauled reigning champion Razgatlioglu and then outgunned Ducati returnee Bautista in a battle that continued until the last corner of the final lap to clinch his 113th race win in the production-based category.

Polesitter Razgatlioglu and fellow front-row starters Bautista and Rea initially engaged in a three-way battle for victory, each enjoying stints at the front as they took advantage of the respective strengths of their bikes.

However, after both Rea and Bautista dispatched Razgatlioglu under braking for Turn 1 on lap 6, the Yamaha rider played no further role in the victory fight, ultimately leading to a last-lap showdown between the leading duo.

Bautista took advantage of the superior grunt of his Ducati to take the lead into Turn 16 that follows the long back-straight, having previously used this tactic to mixed results in the final-thirds of the race.

However, the Ulsterman saw what was coming and fired his Kawasaki inside Bautista's Ducati at the following corner, ensuring he emerged on top heading to the straight/finish straight.

Rea eventually held off Bautista in the run to the finish line, denying Bautista a winning return at Ducati by just over a tenth off a second in the season opener.

Razgatlioglu remained in striking distance of Rea and Bautista for the first 10 laps but didn't have the pace to keep up with the duo as the race wore on, dropping 1.5s behind in third at the finish.

At one point, Michael Ruben Rinaldi was circulating at the tail of the leading trio on his Ducati, but he too dropped back in the closing stages of the race, crossing the finishing line 4.7s behind in fourth.

Factory Yamaha rider Andrea Locatelli slipped to seventh on the opening lap of the race but recovered to finish fifth, nearly 10s down on race winner Rea.

Both Honda riders made big gains in the early stages of the 18-lap contest to bag a strong result for the Japanese marque, with Iker Lecuona finishing sixth and Xavi Vierge charging from 13th on the grid to take seventh at the flag.

Ilya Mikhalchik continued to impress on the factory BMW as he deputised for Michael van der Mark, finishing eighth on his WSBK debut ahead of Bonovo MGM rider Loris Baz on the satellite M1000RR.

The top 10 was rounded out by Garrett Gerloff on the GRT Yamaha.

Scott Redding endured a torrid day in his first outing with BMW, finishing 24s off the top spot in 15th place after dropping to 17th in the early stages of the race.

The only notable retiree from the opening race of 2022 was Alex Lowes, who crashed his factory Kawasaki on lap 8 while running inside the top five.

Aragon WSBK - Race 1 results:

Cla Rider Bike Time Gap 1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 33'13.308 2 Spain Alvaro Bautista
Ducati 33'13.398 0.090 3 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu
Yamaha 33'18.724 5.416 4 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 33'23.580 10.272 5 Italy Andrea Locatelli
Yamaha 33'29.075 15.767 6 Spain Iker Lecuona
Honda 33'32.068 18.760 7 Spain Xavi Vierge
Honda 33'34.829 21.521 8 Illia Mykhalchyk
BMW 33'34.913 21.605 9 United States Garrett Gerloff
Yamaha 33'35.254 21.946 10 Ireland Eugene Laverty
BMW 33'38.654 25.346 11 France Loris Baz
BMW 33'39.235 25.927 12 San Marino Luca Bernardi
Ducati 33'41.768 28.460 13 Philipp Oettl
Ducati 33'42.036 28.728 14 France Lucas Mahias
Kawasaki 33'42.425 29.117 15 United Kingdom Scott Redding
BMW 33'42.945 29.637 16 Italy Axel Bassani
Ducati 33'44.169 30.861 17 Italy Roberto Tamburini
Yamaha 33'44.771 31.463 18 Japan Kohta Nozane
Yamaha 33'46.466 33.158 19 France Christophe Ponsson
Yamaha 34'06.531 53.223 20 Argentina Leandro Mercado
Honda 34'09.321 56.013 21 Malaysia Hafizh Syahrin
Honda 34'11.344 58.036 22 Oliver Konig
Kawasaki 34'21.345 1'08.037 23 Belgium Loris Cresson
Kawasaki 34'29.696 1'16.388 United Kingdom Alex Lowes
Kawasaki 12 Laps Italy Gabriele Ruiu
BMW 14 Laps View full results

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