This weekend, the will travel to Estoril before the end of the season in Jerez. The BMW driver, Toprak Razgatlioğluarrives in Portugal with 39 points ahead of the Ducati rider, and can seal the championship early on Sunday.
Ducati has already played with team orders the last weekend in Aragon. Alvaro Bautista had to avoid deducting points from his teammate, and the brand will follow a similar strategy in Estoril.
However, there could be some surprises this weekend as the forecast calls for rain.
Bautista is the rider who arrives at the penultimate stage of the WSBK calendar with better momentum, especially after his two victories in Aragon: “I am happy that the good feelings have returned, because we fought a lot at the start of the campaign,” said.
“Of course it's too late now [la reacción]but at least we were able to learn a lot”, explains the Spanish driver, who no longer considers himself a contender for the world championship. With 124 points still to play, Bautista has a considerable disadvantage of 81 units compared to Toprak.
SO, Bautista faces the weekend calmly: “I’m going to take it slowly,” he said. “I'm just trying to do my best and regain as much confidence as possible. I want to fight for the best results and I'm definitely not thinking about the championship.”
“Of course, we always have a chance if there is still a mathematical possibility. But I don’t think about it,” he specifies.
Will Álvaro Bautista beat Nicolo Bulega at the World Championship?
Photo: WorldSBK.com
But… What does the two-time Superbike World Champion have to say about orders to keep his teammate's options alive?
“There was a little briefing in Aragon before the race on Saturday,” reveals Bautista. “We agreed to help Nicolo. The plan was to prevent me from getting between him and Toprak. We also intended to help him by deducting points from Toprak.”
However, Ducati's plan only worked to a certain extentsince Bulega suddenly lost 20 points against Razgatlioglu on Saturday. On Sunday, Bautista decided to take the initiative after realizing that Bulega didn't have enough pace to defeat Razgatlioglu.
Bautista won both races and helped his teammate by taking some points from Toprak. However, Bulega's disadvantage increased from 13 to 39 points, but Ducati intends to maintain the Aragonese strategy for Estoril.
“It’s not a direct team order, but we will do it the same way (in Aragon),” Bautista explained. “So I’ll try not to bother my teammate and he’ll try not to bother me.”
Instead, Bulega explained in front of Estoril that he was not interested in receiving support: “I don't want that, because Álvaro is very fast on his own. He has a chance to win. And then if he can, he must win,” said the vice-world champion, commenting on the situation within the team. team.
Do you want to read our news before everyone else and for free? Follow us here on our Telegram channel and you will not lack anything. All the information, at your fingertips!
