Image: Supplied.

The third round of the 2022 Motul World Superbike Championship (WorldSBK) saw Alvaro Bautista and Jonathan Rea split victories at Estoril, while Dominique Aegerter extended his WorldSSP advantage winning both races, as Marc Garcia and Samuel Di Sora were on top in WorldSSP 300.

Bautista (Aruba.It Racing Ducati) bested current WorldSBK champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) during Saturday’s race one in a drag to the line, as Rea finished third, 4.835s from the lead.

In Sunday morning’s Superpole Race, Rea finished a narrow 0.174s ahead of Razgatlioglu, with Bautista this time a distant third, 4.925s back from the Kawasaki rider.

Later in race two, Rea again came out on top in a battle that went right down to the wire, ultimately scoring an important victory over Bautista, with Razgatlioglu crossing the line further back in P3. Bautista continues to lead the 2022 WorldSBK Championship standings, holding a 17 point advantage ahead of Rea, as Razgatlioglu sits third, 52 points from the top.

Image: Supplied.

Aegerter’s (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) dominance continued in World Supersport, the reigning world champion taking two decisive victories to extend his advantage at the top of the standings.

Lorenzo Baldassari (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha Team) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.It Racing WorldSSP Team) completed the podium in race one, as race two saw Kyle Smith (VFT Racing) rise to take second, while Baldassari finished third.

It was a strong weekend for Australians in WorldSSP, highlighted IN race two where Oli Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team) charged to a season-best P6, Tom Edwards (YART – Yamaha WorldSSP) finished ninth and Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) crossed the line 15th to complete his world championship debut. Bayliss and Edwards finished 12th and 17th in race one respectively, as Currie retired from the race.

Image: Supplied.

Former WorldSSP300 champion Garcia (Yamaha MS Racing) took the honours during race one for the category in Portugal, finishing just .041s ahead of Di Sora (Leader Team Flembbo) as Yuta Okaya (MTM Kawasaki) was third.

Race two saw Di Sora take the victory, leading Inigo Iglesias (SMW Racing) and Mirko Gennai (Team BrCorse). Looking at the championship standings after three rounds, Garcia leads Di Sora by 13, with Alvaro Diaz (Arco Motor University Team) in third a further five back.

It was a difficult two races in Portugal for Australia’s Harry Khouri (Team 109 Kawasaki), unfortunately, forced to retire from both outings.

Detailed results