Bulega holds off Toprak to take the championship fight to Jerez

Toprak Razgatliglu was on pole position for the final WorldSBK racing installment at Estoril, Ducati’s Nicolo Bulega and Alvaro Bautista lined-up alongside the BMW rider.

Bulega lead the field around turn one, Toprak was pushed down the order to fifth place. Andrea Locatelli got the perfect start running in second place.

Andrea Iannone was in third place, the Italian rider was given a double Long Lap penalty due to jumping the start.

Toprak made his way into second place, Bulega was just over a second ahead of Toprak. Bautista was in third place with Locatelli and Alex Lowes fighting behind him for fourth place.

Bulega was the fastest man on track with 13 laps to go, the gap between himself and Toprak was almost two seconds. Bautista was still holding off Alex to keep hold of third place. Lower down the field Iker Lecuona was leading a four-way battle for 11th place, until the Honda man crashed out at turn seven.

Britain’s Ryan Vickers was having a strong ride running in 11th place, fellow Brit Tarran Mackenzie was in 15th place, unfortunately Tarren crashed out with five laps remaining to the race.

Bulega was running strong with four laps to go, holding off Toprak with a two second gap lead. Bautista was still in third place holding off the pressure from the Bimota of Alex Lowes.

Bulega crossed the line to take his 11th victory of the 2025 season, Toprak finished in second place, Bautista finished in another third place, Alex Lowes was fourth, Locatelli finished in fifth place.

Toprak now has a 39 points lead from Bulega, the championship will now go down to the wire at Jerez next weekend.

Featured Image: WorldSBK.com