Alvaro Bautista Wins Race 1 World Superbike 2023 At Assen Circuit, Netherlands

JAKARTA - Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.It Ducati), Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing), and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon) finally stood on the podium of the World Superbike (WSBK) after competing fiercely in Race 1 session at the Assen Circuit, Netherlands, Saturday WIB.

Quoted from the official statement, Bautista came from fourth on the grid after being penalized, and proved he still deserved to be the fastest to beat two of his main competitors, with a record best time of 1 minute 34.368 seconds.

Bautista was awarded a penalty to drop in fourth place on the grid in Race 1 because it was considered to be driving slowly in the Superpole Tissuet session.

He finally entered the top three after fighting with Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing) and finally Bautista tried to catch Toprak, who was competing with Rea for the first position.

Furthermore, Bautista then managed to overtake Toprak and Rea on the fifth lap and the ninth lap.

Although Rea tried to keep pressure on Bautista, the Spaniard reduced the distance and finally the top three positions were filled with the world champion trio.

Bautista's victory was WSBK's 38th victory and was Ducati's 698th race on the podium. Meanwhile, Rea in second place with a time difference of 3.148 seconds was her 24th race at WSBK, and the 24th at Assen.

Meanwhile, Toprak is 3.891 seconds adrift of the race leader. Then the position of four to six of the Race 1 WSBK Assen is filled by Andrea Locatelli from Pata Yamaha Prometee (+10.105 seconds), Axel Bassani from Motocorsa Racing (+10,498 seconds), and Dominique Aegerter from GYTR GRT Yamaha (+13,952 seconds).