Alvaro Bautista consolidated his status as 2023 WorldSBK Champion by adding another record 27th victory to his title-winning campaign ahead of first-time podium winner Dominique Aegerter.

In a Superpole Race shortened to eight laps after a red flag triggered by Aegerter after a technical issue, Bautista shrugged off a scruffy start to emerge a comfortable winner over the Swiss rider.

Indeed, Aegerter - who was struck by electrical issues in Race 1 - very nearly saw his fine efforts of qualifying on the front row come to nothing after his GYTR GRT Yamaha expired in a major way on lap two of the ten-lap sprint.

However, with Iker Lecuona and Loris Baz both coming off in the smoke behind him, organisers called a brief halt to proceedings, with the race undergoing a full restart but over a shorter distance.

It meant Aegerter could re-take the start, the double WorldSSP Champion taking full advantage to grab the hole-shot into Turn 1. Though he’d be demoted back by an eager Alex Lowes soon afterwards, an aggressive pass back into the lead at the end of the lap one would see him come back across the line in front.

Having slipped to as low as fourth initially, Bautista bullied his way back into contention at the start of lap two, picking off Lowes before accelerating past Aegerter for the lead coming down to the Turn 6 hairpin.

From here Bautista wasn’t bothered thereafter, despite a spirited effort from Aegerter, who steadied himself to repel an initial fight from Toprak Razgatlioglu to firmly pin down second for his maiden WorldSBK podium result.

In third, Jonathan Rea made the most of Razgatlioglu’s wilting rear tyre to get through on the Pata Yamaha rider, ensuring at least one more podium finish for the Kawasaki Racing Team rider before he is Yamaha-bound at the end of the weekend.

Razgatlioglu made do with fourth, albeit not before being involved in a clash with Lowes, caused by the Kawasaki rider clipping the Yamaha’s rear wheel as the R1 came by. Causing the ZX-10RR to fold, Lowes’ head took a blow on Razgatlioglu’s rear tyre on the way down, necessitating a trip to the medical centre.

In fifth place, Andrea Locatelli was fortunate for the restart too having slid off on the opening lap of the initial getaway, the Italian hitting back with fifth.

Remy Gardner consolidated GYTR GRT’s grandstand race with a fine run to sixth, ahead of Phillipp Oettl, Michael van der Mark and Danilo Petrucci, the trio assuring their spots on the front three rows for Race 2.

Elsewhere, Garrett Gerloff, Scott Redding and Axel Bassani were all in contention for points too before they came together and retired at Turn 1 with three laps remaining