Alvaro Bautista wary of “crazy” Superpole Race amid tight WorldSBK points battle

In the battle for third in the WorldSBK riders’ standings, the momentum is increasingly in the corner of Alvaro Bautista, who strengthened his grip on the bronze medal spot for 2025 in Race 1 at the Spanish Round.

The fight for the World Superbike bronze medal has been between Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Locatelli since Danilo Petrucci was ruled out of the final round in Jerez through injury.

In Race 1, Bautista got the better of Locatelli, the Spaniard finishing third while Italy’s Locatelli could only manage seventh.

“For sure it’s important to don’t lose points,” Bautista told WorldSBK.com after Race 1 in Jerez.

“At the beginning, I saw the podium places a bit far but in that moment I thought ‘The target is to beat Locatelli,’ because at the end he is the only rider who can fight for third place, unfortunately for Danilo [Petrucci]. 

“So, the target was there, to beat Locatelli.”

Bautista now has a 15-point margin to defend but, after being caught in numerous incidents with other riders this year, he is wary of the chaos the final Superpole Race of the season could bring on Sunday morning.

“Tomorrow, especially in the Superpole Race that maybe is more crazy, we have to be very careful and try to not lose too much,” he said.

“Everyone here, last Superpole Race, wants for sure to make his best days of the season so far and you have to be careful – it could be a bit dangerous.”

Race 1 was yet another battle through the field from Bautista, who now seems to have almost accepted the early race struggles that have plagued him all season.

But the Spanish rider ended the race in a positive mood about his feeling on the bike thanks to changes made overnight after FP2.

“I’m really happy with the feeling I had during the race if I compare last year that I suffered a lot or yesterday that the feeling was not the best,” he said.

“My team did an important change this morning and definitely I felt much better in FP3.

“Then, in Superpole, we were able to make a not-so-bad lap time, but I did a couple of mistakes – I think a couple of tenths faster I can do. But, in any case, it was not a really bad position for the grid. 

“But this track is a bit tricky because the first sector, the corners are very close. I didn’t start so well, so I lost some positions and, as always, the first laps I feel like a passenger on the bike, so it’s difficult to ride the bike in the first laps. 

“I just tried to defend as maximum as possible and tried to not lose too much gap.”