Alvaro Bautista crashed out of FP2 today but avoided injury in his quest to clinch the World Superbike championship this weekend. Bautista needs 2 points to secure the title and he can do so starting on Saturday. While the feat seems trivial; anything can happen in motorcycle racing. Bautista and his Ducati V4R have been dominant this season. He has finished 28 of the 33 races thus far on the podium. Bautista enters the race weekend at Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto with a 60 point lead in the championship standings. Unless something catastrophic occurs Bautista will be crowned world champion this weekend.
While the idea of Bautista not repeating his 2022 success seems outlandish we have seen crazier finishes to the season. With Bautista’s crash in FP2 he is lucky to have avoided serious injury. Otherwise the championship would have been wide open. Bautista stated the following after the session, “Today, we have to say half a day one! In the morning, the track was too wet and we didn’t want to take any risks so we decided not to exit. In the afternoon, the track was almost dry. Just a couple of water patches in some areas of the track…I crashed at Turn 6 because I went over a wet patch that was not easy to see when you were riding. I didn’t expect it, honestly! It seemed like it was completely dry in that area of the track. Fortunately, I don’t have any physical problems.”
Razgatlioglu Hoping for a Miracle
Toprak Razgatlioglu is hoping for a miracle this weekend. After running fastest in FP1 Razgatlioglu said, “Friday was difficult because FP1, nobody was riding because the track conditions were strange. In FP2 everybody was riding but I was feeling less grip – not just my problem, all riders feeling the same. I felt just spinning, no grip/no turning, but we have already some positive way. Just I need a little more grip for good pace. I did a good lap time, but I need good pace as well and tomorrow I think we are improving to fight again.
I did some laps following Alvaro, just to understand where his bike is strong – I am just trying to see which corners I can catch him in the race…I see and I understand, just I need a good set-up with my R1 – and it looks like tomorrow we can improve. I am still fighting for the win – first I need a good qualifying and after a good race, I hope I am fighting again like Portimão. When I fight like this I enjoy riding the bike a lot, we will see! I’m hungry to win.”
If Bautista makes multiple mistakes this weekend anything is possible. We don’t think this will be the case. Superpole is just a few hours away.
Results From FP2 at Jerez