(Motorsport-Total.com) – Ducati factory rider Alvaro Bautista won Saturday’s race at the Superbike World Championship in Misano. Bautista drove to a confident start-to-finish victory. The Ducati success was completed by teammate Michael Rinaldi, who came second. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) had to admit defeat. The Turk drove a lonely race in third place (see race results).

Alvaro Bautista started Saturday’s race from pole. The world champion shared the first row with Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael Rinaldi. Immediately before the start of the first race, Ducati presented the special livery for the Misano races. The factory Ducatis started with a yellow livery. Bautista and Rinaldi wore leather suits in matching colors.

At the start there was a problem with the Yamaha R1 of BSB champion Bradley Ray (Motoxracing). The Briton raised his hand and caused the start to be aborted. The helpers returned to the starting grid. Five minutes later the riders went into a second warm-up lap. On the second attempt to start everything went according to plan.

The Ducati factory duo pulls away at the start of the race

Bautista won the sprint to the first corner. Rinaldi moved up to second position. Razgatlioglu came third on the first lap. Behind him, Danilo Petrucci (Barni-Ducati), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa-Ducati) fought for fourth place. Dominique Aegerter (GRT-Yamaha) watched the duels from seventh position.

At the front, the two factory Ducatis had already clearly pulled away from the rest of the field after just two laps. Bautista and Rinaldi drove times in the low 1:34s. Razgatlioglu and the riders behind them only recorded mid-range 1:34s.

Danilo Petrucci crashes in fourth position

Bautista controlled the lead. Behind him, Rinaldi was alone in second position. Razgatlioglu could not keep up with the factory Ducatis and was put under pressure by Petrucci. At the start of the second half of the race, however, Petrucci’s lap times became slower and Razgatlioglu pulled clear.

Bassani was doing his laps alone in fifth position. Behind him, Aegerter and Rea were dueling for sixth place. Rea risked a lot to keep Aegerter behind him. Six laps before the end of the race, Petrucci crashed while lying in fourth position.

Little drama at the top: Ducati dominates in race one

The final third of the race was less dramatic for Bautista, who was heading for a dominant victory. In the 13th race of the 2023 WSBK season, Bautista celebrated his twelfth victory. With the exception of the sprint race in Mandalika, Bautista is undefeated so far.

Second place went to Ducati teammate Michael Rinaldi, who also drove a flawless race. The local hero took an important second place in front of Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali, Ducati Corse boss Luigi Dall’Igna and Ducati sports director Paolo Ciabatti, which could secure his future in the Ducati factory team.

Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea have no chance

Toprak Razgatlioglu completed the podium, but was unable to prevent Ducati from winning the double. The race in Misano was another setback for the former champion’s World Championship ambitions, as Razgatlioglu currently has no chance of winning races on his own.

© Yamaha

Fourth place went to Axel Bassani, who was the best independent rider. The duel between Jonathan Rea and Dominique Aegerter was only decided on the last lap. Rea used his experience and prevailed against the rookie from Switzerland.

Seventh place went to Alex Lowes. Iker Lecuona was the best Honda rider in eighth place, but was more than 23 seconds behind. Remy Gardner (GRT-Yamaha) and Xavi Vierge (Honda) completed the top 10.

None of the four BMW drivers in the top 10

None of the four BMW riders made it into the top 10. Scott Redding was the best BMW rider in eleventh place. Redding was more than 29 seconds behind at the finish. The race was also disappointing for Andrea Locatelli, who only managed to bring his factory Yamaha home in 12th place.

© Motorsport Images

Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo-BMW), Philipp Öttl (GoEleven-Ducati) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94-Yamaha) collected the final points for positions 13 to 15. Tom Sykes came away empty-handed from the BMW comeback race, as did his brand colleague Loris Baz.

On Sunday the Superpole race will take place at 11:00 a.m. and the second main race at 2:00 p.m. (for the TV overview).