Alvaro Bautista's dominant run of form in the 2023 WorldSBK Championship maintained its head of steam as he romped to another dominant victory in the opening race of the weekend at Misano.

Swelling his trophy tally this season to 12 wins in 13 races, the near-flawlessness in Bautista's record on the Aruba.it Ducati Panigale V4 R in 2023 was reflected in a similarly commanding route from lights-to-victory, the gap back to team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi a clear +5.2secs.

If the plot was familiar, then at least the bike wasn't with Bautista and Rinaldi swapping red for yellow as Ducati used its home round to honour Giallo Ducati with a special livery that will be echoed on the factory Ducati MotoGP machines at Mugello next week.

Whether the new hues could be classified as 'go faster stripes', Ducati likely wouldn't have needed them anyway as Bautista and Rinaldi gripped onto an early 1-2 formation they wouldn't reliniquish to the chequered flag.

A third 1-2 of the year for the Aruba.it team, second for Rinaldi will be particularly welcome in his attempts to hold onto his factory ride next season.

Toprak Razgatlioglu rallied hard in the first few turns in an attempt to break the Ducati deadlock, but after being rebuffed by Rinaldi by Turn 4, he soon lost touch with the leaders.

Instead, his afternoon was preoccupied with the close attentions of Danilo Petrucci and Axel Bassani, the independent Ducati riders enjoying arguably their best races of the 2023 season.

Though unable to get the better of Razgatlioglu, Petrucci looked on course for a satisfying season's best run to fourth, only for the ex-MotoGP rider to drop the Barni Spark Racing bike at Turn 8 with six laps remaining.

His exit promoted a grateful Bassani into fourth place for a timely head-turning result in front of Ducati top brass.

With gaps forming throughout the field, leading to fairly little elbow-to-elbow action, it was left to Jonathan Rea and Dominique Aegerter to provide much of the entertainment in their fight for fifth. However, while the Swiss rider's attack was unrelenting, Rea's defence would hold strong to the flag, the Ulsterman taking the spot, with Aegerter sixth.

Alex Lowes brought his Kawasaki home in seventh, with Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda), Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha) and Xavi Vierge (HRC Honda) completing the top ten.

Scott Redding led a muted BMW offensive in 11th, while Andrea Locatelli endured an out-of-sorts race well down in 12th place. Garrett Gerloff, Philipp Oettl and Lorenzo Baldassarri picked up the final points in 13th, 14th and 15th, leaving Tom Sykes and Bradley Ray - who started from the pit-lane - empty-handed.

>>>ALL WorldSBK & WorldSSP Results - Practice, Superpole & Races<<<

Misano WorldSBK - RACE 1 RESULTS

>>>2023 WorldSBK Championship Standings<<<