WorldSBK Australia Results, Race 2 - Bautista wins red-flagged race two

WorldSBK arrives in Australia for the 12th and final round of 2022 just one week on from the Indonesian round where Alvaro Bautista clinched his first title in the class. Check this page across the Phillip Island weekend for WorldSBK Australia results.

Overview

Superpole - Bautista the only rider inside 90 seconds as Lowes beats Razgatlioglu to front row

Race 1 - Dominance from Rea in drying conditions sees him end 24-race winless run, as Ducati secures manufacturers' title thanks to Bautista's P5

Superpole Race - Strategy, skill, and management the key for Bautista for wet-but-drying sprint race win

Race 2 - Bautista wins red-flagged race two as Kawasaki close the season with both riders on the podium

Race 2

Alvaro Bautista started from pole position for the third time of the weekend in Phillip Island having won the Superpole Race earlier in the day. The final race of the season was also the first of the Australian round to start in the dry, and perhaps unsurprisingly that led to a total domination by Bautista.

Bautista made the holeshot from pole position, while a bad start from Toprak Razgatlioglu left him fifth. By the third sector of the race, Scott Redding has passed Bautista for second, after the Spaniard had also been passed by Jonathan Rea, who led the first lap.

As the race dipped into the last 20 laps, Rea was beginning to pull away from Redding, causing some urgency in the like of Bautista, who passed Alex Lowes and Redding in two corners, and Razgatlioglu was through to third a few corners later.

Bautista resumed the lead with 16 laps to go, and the Spaniard's pace began to take its toll with the front four escaping totally from fifth-placed Andrea Locatelli, and even Lowes beginning to struggle to match the pace.

With 10 laps to go, though, it was Razgatlioglu on the ropes, his tyre beginning to wear. Lowes began to apply the pressure, but it took him two laps to get through, which cost him too much time to be able to challenge for the win.

That left Bautista versus Rea, but the battle was cut short with five laps to go with a red flag, making Bautista the winner for the second time on the final day of the season.

Jonathan Rea closed the season with a second place, while Alex Lowes confirmed a double-podium for Kawasaki in the final race of what has been a tough 2022 for the Akashi marque. 

Toprak Razgatlioglu was forced to settle for fourth place, ahead of Andrea Locatelli, Scott Redding, Michael Rinaldi, Axel Bassani, Philipp Oettl, and Michael van der Mark who completed the top 10.

The red flag was thrown due to a crash between Eugene Laverty and Xavi Fores in the #50's final race. At the time of writing, the only official news about the crash is that Eugene Lavery was taken to the medical centre for a check-up and is conscious, while Xavi Fores was reportedly able to walk away from the crash.

UPDATE: At 07:27 GMT the WorldSBK Twitter account tweeted that Eugene Laverty had been "diagnosed with a pelvic injury and taken to Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for further assessments. Rider is stable."

Full WorldSBK race two results from Phillip Island are below.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Phillip Island, Australia | Race 2 Results

Superpole Race

Another wet-dry race saw more tyre gambles even in the short 10-lap sprint of the WorldSBK Superpole Race, which after much drama was won by Alvaro Bautista.

The conditions for the sprint race were not entirely dissimilar to those of the first long race, with, the track drying swiftly. But, with only 10 laps available in the Superpole Race, surely anything other than wet tyres would be a mistake.

Nonetheless, Alvaro Bautista chose a slick rear tyre, and there were intermediates for the likes of Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea.

Andrea Loctelli made the holeshot, but Razgatlioglu took the lead at turn two, while Bautista plummeted on lap one, which ended with the 2021 World Champion on top, ahead of Alex Lowes and Jonathan Rea.

Lowes was to the lead on lap two, as the top three escaped from the pack, but by lap four Bautista was now the fastest, and even though Jonathan Rea hit the front with six to go the Ducati rider was surely the threat by now.

Razgatlioglu led with two laps to go, but Bautista was right there, and so the moves that came from the Spaniard on firstly Jonathan Rea and secondly Toprak Razgatliolgu were essentially inevitable.

Bautista confirmed his first win as 2022 World Champion with a stunning piece of strategy and tyre choice from the Ducati team, and superb management in the early laps from the rider himself. 

Behind, Razgatlioglu confirmed second place, both in the race and the championship, while Rea was consigned to third place similarly.

Alex Lowes finished fourth, ahead of Locatelli, Scott Redding, Garrett Gerloff, Xavi Vierge, Xavi Fores, and Loris Baz, who completed the top 10.

Full WorldSBK Superpole Race results from Phillip Island are below.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Phillip Island, Australia | Superpole Race Results

Race 1

WorldSBK race one in Australia began with Alvaro Bautista on pole after being the only rider to lap under 90 seconds in Superpole, just six days on from securing his second career world title in Indonesia. The race was characterised by wet-but-drying conditions, and was won by Jonathan Rea.

The race started wet and, although Jonathan Rea made a good launch, Alvaro Bautista made the holeshot ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu. Everyone was on wet tyres, apart from an intermediate rear tyre for Philipp Oettl who dropped from seventh on the grid to last on the first lap, at the end of which he pitted to change tyres.

Alex Lowes set the fastest lap on lap three, and one lap later Rea took the lead at turn four from Bautista, and immediately began to escape at the front. One lap later, and Razgatlioglu passed Bautista in the same place as Rea the lap before.

By the end of lap five Bautista was demoted to fourth by Lowes, the track was starting to dry, and Razgatlioglu was challenging Rea for the lead, which he took at turn one at the beginning of lap six.

A lap later, Rea reclaimed the lead with a tighter line at turn two. By now Lowes had caught the leaders, too, and Bautista was not far behind either. Lowes attacked Razgatlioglu one corner after Rea, but as the race entered the final 15 laps, and Lowes took the lead for the first time, it was still unclear who had the advantage.

Bautista was back into the podium positions when Razgatlioglu made a mistake at the Hayshed with 14 laps to go. Simultaneously, the Kawasakis were escaping at the front, and also Lowes from Rea, and those further down the field - firstly Hafizh Syahrin, then the likes of Xavi Fores and Michael Rinaldi - pitted to change tyres. Slicks were the choice, but strangely Fores was sent back out on intermediates. 

One lap after Rinaldi stopped (from 16th), Rea and Razgatlioglu pit for slicks, but Lowes and Bautista stayed out. Bautista stopped one lap after Rea and Razgatlioglu, but Lowes continued yet another lap on his wets. #

The other interesting part from the pit stops was that Rea clearly made time compared to both Razgatlioglu and Bautista, which theoretically should not happen because of the intervention time regulation which sets the minimum pit lane time for a tyre change. 

When Lowes eventually did stop, he was back out in seventh, while Rea was in the de facto lead. It was not until the race reached the final eight laps that Rea took the actual lead of the race, somewhat surprisingly from Kyle Smith who was outside of the qualification time in Superpole but stayed out longer than anyone else on the wet tyres he started the race with. 

Bautista was back on the podium with six laps to go, but Lowes passed him around the outside of Lukey Heights before they entered the final five. Lowes soon created himself a gap back to the Spaniard, who was then overtaken by Andrea Locatelli. 

In the end, Rea won his first race since Estoril by a dominant margin, ending his longest dry spell since he joined Kawasaki in 2015. Joining him on the podium were Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes, while Andrea Locatelli was fourth.

A fifth place for Alvaro Bautista was enough for Ducati to clinch the manufacturers' title, while Garrett Gerloff completed the top six, ahead of Axel Bassani, Xavi Vierge, Loris Baz, and Tetsuta Nagashima, who took away the top 10 from Kyle Smith - who stayed out on wets for the whole race - on the final lap.

Full WorldSBK race one results from Australia are below.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Phillip Island Circuit, Australia | Race 1 Results

Superpole

FP3 had been wet on Saturday morning, following a dry Friday which saw Alvaro Bautista on top, but the track was dry for Superpole, where the new reigning champion took pole position. 

It was Bautista who held pole position after the initial runs, and although Jonathan Rea found some speed with his second tyre, it was not enough for him to stop Bautista claiming his first triumph as the new reigning WorldSBK champion. 

Alex Lowes has shown good speed on Friday, and that continued on Saturday with the #22 taking third place - behind his teammate, Rea, in second - and keeping Toprak Razgatlioglu off the front row.

Like Rea, Razgatlioglu also had his teammate for company in the qualifying order, as Andrea Locatelli closed Superpole in fifth, while Garret Gerloff was sixth to make an all-Yamaha row two on the American's final weekend for the brand. 

Philipp Oettl took seventh on the race one grid, while Michael Rinaldi was eighth, ahead of Xavi Vierge who completed the front three rows. Vierge's stand-in teammate at HRC for the final round of the season, Tetsuta Nagashima (Iker Lecuona remains unfit after his crash on Friday in Indonesia), completed the top 10, and will be joined on row four for race one and the Superpole Race by Lucas Mahias and Scott Redding. 

Full WorldSBK Superpole results from Phillip Island are below.

2022 WorldSBK Championship | Phillip Island Circuit, Australia | Superpole Results

2022 Honda XL750 Transalp, CB750 Hornet, CL500 Preview | EICMA 2022