World Superbikes: Jonathan Rea overtakes Alvaro Bautista on final lap to win in Estoril

Jonathan Rea passed title rival Alvaro Bautista on the final lap to secure a dramatic World Superbike feature race victory at Estoril.

Rea made a decisive move stick at the chicane and survived a huge slide coming out of the final corner to win.

Ducati’s Bautista leads Kawasaki rider Rea by 17 points in the championship.

“I played my cards. I had so much good traction and I got great traction out of [turn] six, it was a block pass at seven,” Rea told Eurosport.

“I kept my apex and parked it down the inside of the chicane.

“As far as last-lap battles go it was good. He [Bautista] has such as advantage on the straight. A last-lap battle with Alvaro and Ducati is nice and we closed the gap in the championship.”

Rea’s dramatic victory in Portugal, his second of the weekend after battling past Toprak Razgatlioglu in Sunday’s earlier Superpole sprint race, means all three World Superbike races were decided on the final lap and by just 0.1 seconds.

Bautista out-dragged Razgatlioglu to the line in Saturday’s first feature race and Rea capitalised on a mistake by the Turkish rider with four corners to go in the Superpole race.

In Sunday’s 21-lap feature race, Rea led from the start but reigning champion Razgatlioglu hit the front on the sixth lap, and Rea ran wide after he attempted to respond down the pit straight.

The Northern Irishman made a move stick the next time around, and his progress was mirrored by rival Bautista who muscled past Rea’s Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes for third.

However, Bautista pulled off an audacious double move on Rea and Razgatlioglu to take the lead on the 10th lap, taking full advantage of the Ducati’s superior horse power.

But there was a final twist as Rea closed on the final lap and made a move stick with a late overtake into the chicane, and the six-time champion survived a massive slide coming out of the final corner to hold off Bautista and take his second win of the weekend.

Yamaha’s Razgatlioglu was a distant third ahead of Lowes, Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli and Honda’s Iker Lecuona.