The fact that Marco Butti heads into Barcelona with the lead of the championship is almost a miracle, given the Italian racer's string of bad luck at the start of the season.

He was eliminated in the very first race of the year in a crash that involved his title rival, Eric Gené. The next weekend at Spa-Francorchamps, a sensational crash in practice did not deter him, as he bounced back to win the first race. However, his bad luck returned almost immediately in the second race when he suffered a puncture while set for a second-place finish.

An aquaplaning incident in a very wet race at Hockenheim while running in second place behind the safety car, seemed to have surely ended his title hopes.

Yet, despite these setbacks, he goes to Spain with the championship lead. A pair of podiums in Austria, in addition to a podium finish (if not a victory) in every race weekend, means the 20-year-old should be the safest bet for the title—unless you're betting on his bad luck to return.

What does he need to do to win the title?

Simply holding his points gap to everyone will be enough, as long as he still beats Gené in a tiebreak. However, whether we'll see the fast Italian settle for anything less than an all-out performance is another matter. That said, what will work against him is the penalty weight from his success in Austria. 

He will be carrying a not-insignificant 40kg of ballast on his Honda Civic, which means he'll need to dig deep to stay on top when the chequered flag waves on Saturday morning.