Bautista ‘not focused’ on championship lead despite Rea, Razgatlioglu crashes

On a day where his two title rivals faltered, Alvaro Bautista kept his cool to take an eighth WorldSBK victory of the season and extend his championship lead to over 50 points.

Robert Jones

10 Sep 2022

Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Magny-Cours

Having kept hold of fourth place by the end of lap one, Bautista saw his two WorldSBK rivals fall on back-to-back laps, leaving Scott Redding and himself to battle it out for the win.

Redding initially had the speed to stay with Bautista, but as the Ducati rider continued to set low 1m 37s lap times the BMW rider began to drop back.

With Jonathan Rea unable to score points and Toprak Razgatlioglu only 11th after staging an impressive comeback, Bautista’s win sees him open up his biggest points lead of the season so far.

An elated Bautista told WorldSBK.com: "I saw Jonathan [Rea] crash, and then Toprak [Razgatlioglu] made some mistakes and then went into the gravel, so I decided to stay calm and not make mistakes, just to finish the race and get a good feeling with the bike.

"Lap by lap, I started to feel better and better and decided to try and get the lead, get my pace and push to my feedback.

"I did a couple of good lap times to get some advantage with Scott [Redding], and then in the last laps I just had to manage the distance. It was an important victory especially here at a track that is never good for us."

Bautista not focusing on WorldSBK championship lead

Rea and Razgatlioglu's individual mistakes are not the first time they've cost themselves valuable points in the same race, as the pair also crashed out in Assen as a result of contact between the two.

But despite opening up his biggest advantage of the season, Bautista’s sole focus remains on each race.

"Sincerely, I don’t look at the gap in the championship," continued Bautista. "If you are focused on that, you are not focused on the track.

"I try to be focussed on the track, try to enjoy with my bike and try to get the maximum from my Ducati. At the end, when the championship is finished, we will see where we are and what is the difference."