Nicolo Bulega closed out the WorldSBK chapter of his profession by finishing a hat trick of victories together with his win in Race 2 at Jerez.
In his ultimate race earlier than he joins MotoGP for 2027, Bulega ended on a excessive by claiming his thirty second win of the season, and drew stage within the all-time checklist with WorldSBK legend Troy Bayliss.
Iker Lecuona took the lead over team-mate Bulega into the primary nook after a robust begin from second on the grid, whereas Bautista made a storming begin from fifth to 3rd.
Bulega responded instantly to Lecuona’s problem, retaking the lead at Flip 4 as the 2 seemed to construct their typical hole to the riders behind.
After the preliminary first lap modifications, the sphere remained stagnant because the manufacturing unit Ducati riders chipped away on the lap time to construct a spot of greater than three seconds to third-placed Bautista.
5 laps earlier than the top, the white flag got here out to warn of the rain coming across the circuit, with riders allowed to swap bikes 4 laps from the top given the situations.
It made no distinction to the manufacturing unit Ducati riders, as Bulega cruised to the road to assert victory by 4.696s in an emotional finish to his time within the WorldSBK championship.
Lecuona additionally clinched second place by almost 10 seconds to seal an Aruba 1-2 in a historic marketing campaign for the Italian staff.
Nevertheless, the change in situations solely noticed strain piled on Bautista, with Sam Lowes closing at a speedy charge within the late phases for the ultimate spot on the rostrum.
Lowes struck on the ultimate lap at Flip 2 to take third place and though Bautista tried his hardest, he was unable to get again on phrases with the British rider who stole the spot on the rostrum.
Additional behind, Alex Lowes needed to struggle to fend off Yari Montella for fifth place after dropping out of their battle for third place within the championship. Though the Bimota rider held sturdy for 9 laps, the ability of Montella’s Ducati ultimately bought the higher of him as he bought previous going into the ultimate nook.
Lorenzo Baldassarri additionally handed Lowes within the late phases after some sturdy tempo within the combined situations, with the Bimota rider taking seventh forward of team-mate Axel Bassani in eighth.
Alberto Surra was ninth and Miguel Oliveira accomplished the highest 10. A troublesome begin for Tommy Bridewell noticed him take eleventh on the chequered flag, whereas Xavi Vierge was twelfth on his Yamaha farewell.
Garrett Gerloff was thirteenth and completed forward of the Honda pairing, with Somkiat Chantra in 14th and Jake Dixon in fifteenth selecting up the ultimate factors of the season.
