Image: Supplied.

A dominant weekend at Catalunya saw Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) leader Alvaro Bautista increase his advantage with a hat-trick of victories, as Dominique Aegerter scored both World Supersport (WorldSSP) wins while Yuta Okaya and Victor Steeman stood on the top step in World Supersport 300 (WorldSSP300).

Bautista (Aruba.it Racing -Ducati) convincingly claimed race one in Spain and led every lap to take the chequered flag with an 8.665s advantage. Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea finished P2 and Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) completed the top three.

Fresh from signing a contract extension with Aruba.It Racing – Ducati, Michael Rinaldi crossed the line P4 as reigning champion Toprak Razgatlioglu was fifth after suffering with rear grip. Pole-sitter Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) dropped to P6.

The Superpole race was a much closer outing, with Bautista victorious by just 1.185s ahead of Rea, with Kawasaki Racing Team’s Alex Lowes completing the rostrum. Razgatlioglu improved to fourth ahead of Rinaldi who was inside the top five once more.

In a class of his own over full race distance at the Barcelona circuit, Bautista dominated race two by 8.103s as Rinaldi made it a 1-2 for the team. Razgatlioglu overcame Rea and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) to finish third, with the number 65 P4 as the Italian completed the top five.

Entering round nine at Portimao, Portugal in under two weeks, Bautista leads Razgatlioglu by 59 points, with Rea third in the standings and eight points back from the Yamaha rider.

Image: Supplied.

Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) took another step towards back-to-back WorldSSP titles with a perfect 50-point haul from Catalunya, finishing in front of championship rival Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evans Bros WorldSSP Yamaha Team) and Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in the opening encounter.

The number 77 was victorious by 2.014s in the second bout, with Oncu elevating to finish P2 and Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph) completing the rostrum. Baldassarri crossed the line fourth and now sits 36 points from the championship lead.

Australia’s Oli Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team) rebounded from 23rd on the grid to finish 15th in race one before unfortunately crashing out of contention in the final outing. Ben Currie (Motozoo Racing by Puccetti) notched 26th in the first bout and suffered from a mechanical issue in the second race.

Image: Supplied.

Okaya and Steeman made it a clean sweep of WorldSSP300 victories for MTM Kawasaki in Barcelona as Alvaro Diaz’s (Arco Motor University Team) 2-4 scorecard sees the Yamaha rider enter Portugal with a 50-point championship lead.

Harry Khouri (Team#109 Kawasaki) qualified P24 and completed the weekend with a 25th place finish after a DNF in race one.

Detailed results