WorldSBK | Bautista dominates Dutch round: 400th victory for Ducati

Alvaro Bautista, from the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, was the highlight of the Dutch Round of the WorldSBK Championship, held at TT Circuit Assen, by winning all three races of the weekend.

With this dominance, the Spaniard secured Ducati’s 400th victory in the history of the WorldSBK, making the Italian manufacturer the first to reach this mark in the competition.

Bautista led the race for the lead in Sunday’s race from the start, facing heavy pressure from challengers including Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), who retired after a crash. Razgatlioglu was second, while Andrea Locatelli, his teammate, was third.

With that victory, Bautista reached the mark of 40 WorldSBK victories, all won by Ducati. Furthermore, the race at Assen was the 700th time the team has been on the podium in the competition.

Razgatlioglu, meanwhile, now has 90 podiums in his career, while Locatelli took his tenth podium, equaling his best result to date. The race also marked Dominique Aegerter’s best result in WorldSBK, with the Swiss rider finishing fourth.

The result of the race showed the strength of the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team, which has established itself as one of the main favorites for this season’s title.

Thus, with the result of the weekend in the Netherlands, Bautista is the leader with 174 points, Toprak is second with 118 and Andrea Locatelli is third with 104 points.

The championship standings are as follows:

Anyway, the WorldSBK Championship returns from May 5th to 7th, with the Catalunya round.

For more info, access the WorldSBK website.