WSBK Portimão Race Sprint: Rea contains Bautista and Lowes

Now 93 points ahead of Álvaro Bautista, Johnny Rea, thanks to a very brilliant first race this Saturday, could see the two events this Sunday in Portugal coming without apprehension. The big interest in the Championship was focused on the fight for third place between the two Yamaha officials Michael van der Mark with 231 points and Alex Lowes with 229. Loris Baz, victim of falls the day before, had a nice revenge to take this Sunday.

Jonathan Rea is the only rider to have participated in all 20 World SBK races which took place in the Algarve. The reigning World Champion made his WSBK debut on the Portimao track in 2008, it was the last weekend of the season. Coming from the Supersport World Championship, the Northern Irishman recorded the third best time in the qualifying session, then finished fourth in Race 1. On Sunday, he took 15th place after going off the track while was fifth.

To Loris Baz, who are " Now I have to make sure I'm among the top nine in the sprint race to start from a better place on the grid for Race 2. We're continuing our learning and we've shown that we have the speed. There are still some positives, because we have done some excellent work so far. »

To Tom Sykes, who are " I'm really happy to have returned to the Portimão circuit after two successful days of testing. During testing we gathered a lot of information for the BMW S 1000 RR. Overall, we tried various bike setups that we are usually not able to do on race weekends due to limited time. We've had some positive results, so hopefully we can pick up where we left off. The podium is certainly the target for the remaining races. »

What conformed to his way Marc Bongers, BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director, “After the Portimão test, we were well equipped for the last race weekends of the season. We were able to optimize many areas of the BMW S 1000 RR and both riders were happy with what we achieved during testing. The races in Portimão mark the start of the final phase of our first season with the new RR. The season was supposed to be a learning year and we have already exceeded our expectations. The aim of the remaining races is to continue like this and get the most out of the package with both drivers in each race. »

At the beginning During this sprint race, which was only ten laps long, the air temperature was 27° and that of the track was 36°. When the lights went out, the fastest to set off was Johnny Rea ahead of Tom Sykes, Leon Haslam, Alex Lowes, Sandro Cortese and Marco Melandri. Álvaro Bautista was ninth ahead of Chaz Davies and Loris Baz. Rea pulled away slightly, but Sykes managed not to fall too far behind, ahead of Lowes and Haslam. Melandri missed a little while widening, which Bautista, van der Mark and Davies took advantage of to overtake him. Baz was eleventh.

Rea made his effort 8 laps from the checkered flag and opened up a gap of 1.3 over Sykes who was soon overtaken by Lowes. Haslam and Cortese followed, threatened by Bautista and Razgatlioglu.

At halfway, Rea was ahead of Lowes by 1.7, then Bautista, Sykes, Haslam and Razgatlioglu by 2.8. Baz was tenth at 5.8 just behind Davies.

Rea continued at a good pace, wary of a possible return of Lowes to 2.0 and Bautista to 2.6. Razgatlioglu fourth was 3.8 behind, battling with Haslam, ahead of van der Mark, Cortese, Davies and Baz tenth.

Rea's gap remained stable at the end of the race, more than two seconds ahead of Lowes, whom Bautista overtook three laps from the finish. Loris Baz snatched the ninth lace from Chaz Davies.

Rea increased his lead to 2.4 over Bautista and Lowes in the fight. In the end, Rea won without being worried, while second place narrowly went to Bautista ahead of Lowes, Razgatlioglu, Haslam, van der Mark, Sykes, Cortese, Baz and Davies. Sylvain Barrier finished eighteenth.

Sprint race results:

Provisional classification of the Superbike World Championship:

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