Having returned to the Ducati team with which he made an explosive start to his WSBK career in 2019, Bautista was untouchable in the 10-lap sprint on Sunday morning to clinch pole position for the main race later today.
The Spanish rider pulled away cleanly from second position and followed polesitter Razgatlioglu in the opening sequence of corners, before pulling off a brilliant maneovure over his Yamaha rival into Turn 4 - despite coming from a long way back on his Panigale V4 R.
Having dispatched the reigning championship, Bautista was able to stretch a sizeable gap out front, aided by Rea and Razgatlioglu engaging in a battle of their own along with the second Ducati of Michael Ruben Rinaldi, his advantage over the rest of the field already over a second on lap 4.
From there on Bautista cruised to the finish, taking the chequered flag by over three seconds to clinch his 17th victory in WSBK - and the first since the series’ Argentina round in 2019.
Some way behind the Spaniard, Rea emerged on top in a thrilling three-way battle with Razgatlioglu and Rinaldi to secure the best of the rest spot on the podium.
Rea launched his Kawasaki up the inside of Razgatlioglu under braking for Turn 1 on lap 8, but this unsettled the Yamaha rider, allowing Rinaldi to pass both riders in one swoop.
But the six-time world champion was determined to regain the position and made the decisive move going into Turn 7 on the penultimate tour, leaving Rinaldi into the clutches of Razgatlioglu.
After several failed attempts, Razgatlioglu finally managed to clear the Ducati of Rinaldi going into Turn 16 on the final lap, the two riders crossing the finish line separated by just 0.059s.
Behind the fighting trio, Andrea Locatelli finished fifth on the factory Yamaha, while Alex Lowes (Kawasaki) recovered from a DNF on Saturday to take sixth and open his points account for 2022.
The top 10 was rounded off by top independent rider Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Ducati), Honda duo Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge, and the GRT Yamaha of Garrett Gerloff.
Aragon WSBK - Superpole race results:
| Cla | # | Rider | Bike | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 |  Alvaro Bautista | Ducati | |
| 2 | 65 |  Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | 5.141 |
| 3 | 1 |  Toprak Razgatlioglu | Yamaha | 6.008 |
| 4 | 21 |  Michael Ruben Rinaldi | Ducati | 6.067 |
| 5 | 55 | Andrea Locatelli | Yamaha | 7.532 |
| 6 | 22 | Alex Lowes | Kawasaki | 7.623 |
| 7 | 47 | Axel Bassani | Ducati | 8.801 |
| 8 | 7 | Iker Lecuona | Honda | 10.127 |
| 9 | 97 | Xavi Vierge | Honda | 11.414 |
| 10 | 31 |  Garrett Gerloff | Yamaha | 11.476 |
| 11 | 50 |  Eugene Laverty | BMW | 13.795 |
| 12 | 45 | Scott Redding | BMW | 15.408 |
| 13 | 76 |  Loris Baz | BMW | 15.564 |
| 14 | 44 | Lucas Mahias | Kawasaki | 18.529 |
| 15 | 2 | Roberto Tamburini | Yamaha | 22.786 |
| 16 | 5 | Philipp Oettl | Ducati | 22.818 |
| 17 | 29 |  Luca Bernardi | Ducati | 24.011 |
| 18 | 3 |  Kohta Nozane | Yamaha | 25.367 |
| 19 | 16 | Gabriele Ruiu | BMW | 32.598 |
| 20 | 36 |  Leandro Mercado | Honda | 32.661 |
| 21 | 23 | Christophe Ponsson | Yamaha | 35.858 |
| 22 | 35 |  Hafizh Syahrin | Honda | 36.631 |
| 23 | 52 | Oliver Konig | Kawasaki | 37.920 |
| 24 | 84 |  Loris Cresson | Kawasaki | 37.980 |
| 37 | Illia Mykhalchyk | BMW | ||
| View full results | ||||
