Nicolo Bulega dominated to the Race 1 victory at Jerez, and Toprak Razgatlioglu crowned himself the two-time WorldSBK champion.
The Italian rider led from start to finish and dominated proceedings, while the Turkish rider became the 11th different rider to win multiple championships in the series’ 36-year history.
Bulega and Razgatlioglu maintained first and second into Turn 1, with both riders pulling away into the distance.
A chaotic Lap 1 saw Sam Lowes and Danilo Petrucci caught up in the middle of Turn 3 before the Italian crashed out of proceedings a few corners later.
Both Tommy Bridewell and Tarran Mackenzie crashed out on the opening Lap, as both BSB champions were forced to have an early bath.
Alvaro Bautista recovered from 15th in qualifying to 10th place, but on Lap 2, he crashed out at Turn 6. He recovered his V4 from the gravel traps, but it had partial damage, and he rejoined in dead last.
Yamaha, Kawasaki and Honda battled hard for third place in the early phases, with Locatelli maintaining the last podium spot after a sensational start in the early phases.
Iker Lecuona and Alex Lowes were right behind his tail, but the leading duo of Bulega and Razgatlioglu had already forged a multiple-second advantage out front.
By Lap 6, the gap stretched as far as 4.5s, and the duo showed why they were the distant leaders in the championship.
Bulega’s Ducati was strongest in the second and final sector, but the Turkish rider aboard his BMW had the edge in the first and third sectors. The gap remained within half a second throughout.
Further down, Michael Ruben Rinaldi was forced to retire the bike due to technical issues that piled on the misery in his last World outing. He occupied ninth place in the classification before the Ducati rider retired.
Jonathan Rea made aggressive moves on fellow Brit Scott Redding and Italian Andrea Iannone to snatch 11th spot after another disheartening Saturday Superpole.
Bautista crashed for a second time on the third to last Lap at Turn 2, with the two-time WorldSBK champion’s tenure officially ending as the sport’s number one.
Bulega got into the groove in the midway period of the race to formulate a 2.3s advantage over Razgatlioglu, with Ducati’s advantage around the circuit now covering all areas.
Bulega’s advantage extended with every Lap, but the Turkish BMW rider appeared to settle for second to ensure he wrapped up the title.
Bulega eventually forged a gap over 4.5s over Razgatlioglu to win Race 1 in dominant style.
To his full credit, the rookie gave his best efforts and took the championship fight to the season’s final round.
Still, Razgatlioglu’s dominance across 2024 told the story with unmatched consistency, with the Turkish rider winning in his first season with the Bavarian manufacturer.
The duo crossed the line first and second with Locatelli over ten seconds adrift of the Ducati winner as the Yamaha rider made amends from his crash at Estoril last weekend.
Lowes and Kawasaki reclaimed the fourth spot in the standings thanks to a fourth-placed finish, with Lecuona and Michael van der Mark ending their respective races in close proximity to the Brit.
Xavi Vierge endured a quiet race to finish seventh place, ahead of Axel Bassani who recovered from a difficult start to finish eighth for the factory Kawasaki.
Dominique Aegerter recovered from last round’s absence to secure ninth for Yamaha ahead of BMW’s Garrett Gerloff.
Yamaha’s Rea cemented 11th who finished ahead of Iannone and Lowes after completing the two overtakes earlier in the race.
Scott Redding and Tetsuta Nagashima secured the final two-point scoring positions as the pair finished 14th and 15th.
