Ducati's Alvaro Bautista won the opening race of the 2022 World Superbike Championship weekend in Estoril after snatching the victory from Toprak Razgatlioglu at the death.
Bautista waited until the last corner on the final lap to complete a passing move on the reigning world champion and rob him of the victory like a thief in the night.
The battle for top spot on the podium initially looked to be a two-horse race between Yamaha man Razgatlioglu and Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea, with the lead changing hands between the two riders several times, but Rea would make a crucial error with a few laps to go, handing second place to Bautista, who stayed on Razgatlioglu's tail until the very end before stealing the win in dramatic fashion.
The see-saw battle between pole-sitter Rea and Razgatlioglu that dominated the majority of the race seemed to cost both riders a bit of time, and allowed Bautista, who had initially dropped to fourth place behind Andrea Locatelli, to gradually make up those lost seconds and turn a two-way battle into a three-way one.
When Razgatlioglu moved to cover the inside line into Turn 1, Rea was forced out wide, allowing Bautista to come through and snatch second place.
From that point on, Rea gave up the fight for first place, with Bautista sticking to Razgatlioglu as they found themselves separated by just a few tenths heading into the closing stages of the race.
And just when it seemed like Razgatlioglu had done enough to secure the win after fending off the Spaniard's attack into turn one of the final lap, Bautista saved his best for last, taking full advantage of the Turkish rider's sluggish exit coming out of the last corner by coming through and snatching the win for Ducati.
The victory - his fourth in seven starts this season - sees Bautista extend his lead at the top of the overall standings.
Rea would finish nearly five seconds behind the leading duo in third, followed by Yamaha's Locatelli and Team HRC duo Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona in fifth and sixth place respectively.
Alex Lowes secured seventh place on the factory Kawasaki ahead of Scott Redding, who lost three places in the closing stages of the race.
Bautista's teammate Michael Rinaldi finished in ninth ahead of the BMW of Loris Baz.
RESULTS
1 Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.It Racing Ducati 21 Laps
2 Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK +0.126s
3 Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +4.835s
4 Andrea Locatelli ITA PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK +17.079s
5 Xavi Vierge SPA Team HRC WorldSBK +19.107s
6 Iker Lecuona SPA Team HRC WorldSBK +19.215s
7 Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK +21.956s
8 Scott Redding GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team +23.090s
9 Michael Rinaldi ITA Aruba.It Racing Ducati +24.104s
10 Loris Baz FRA Bonovo Action BMW +25.212s
11 Xavi Fores SPA GoEleven Ducati +27.516s
12 Axel Bassani ITA Motocorsa Ducati +30.686s
13 Luca Bernardi SM Barni Spark Ducati Team +39.599s
14 Kohta Nozane JPN GRT Yamaha +39.643s
15 Eugene Laverty IRL Bonovo Action BMW +41.735s
16 Marvin Fritz GER Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team +41.854s
17 Lucas Mahias FRA Puccetti Kawasaki +42.790s
18 Christophe Ponsson FRA Gil Motor Sport Yamaha +50.082s
19 Hafizh Syahrin MAL MIE Honda Racing +1 Lap
20 Oliver Konig CZE Orelac Racing Kawasaki +1 Lap
21 Isaac Vinales SPA Pedercini Kawasaki +2 Laps
22 Leandro Mercado ARG MIE Honda Racing DNF