If finding a Kawasaki in first position at midday of this inaugural Portuguese session was not a surprise, on the other hand it was the Turk Toprak Razgatlioglu, the protégé of Kenan Sofuoglu, now a senator, who occupied the head of the provisional classification in 1'42.687 ahead of the other two Kawasakis of Leon Haslam and Johnny Rea. The three ZX-10RRs were ahead of the Yamaha of Alex Lowes and the BMW of Tom Sykes.
Around 16 p.m., two hours from the end, Alex Lowes went on the attack and got ahead Toprak Razgatlioglu by four hundredths with a best lap of 1'42.648. The fight promised to be extremely close, and this could give hope for a slightly more competitive season, and a title more difficult to obtain for Jonathan Rhea. The Yamahas were expected to be at the level of the Kawasakis, while the new Ducati and BMW seemed to promise good performance when they were well developed. If the Panigale and the S 1000 RR were able to reach the podium quickly, then victory from mid-season (Portimão on September 8), it would not take much more to reconcile fans of a good show with the Championship of Superbike World.
Eugene Laverty for example had a difficult day with his Ducati from the Go Eleven team, in modest sixteenth position two hours from the end, although with 0.1 ahead of the second private Panigale, assigned to Michael Ruben Rinaldi within Team Barni. The Ducati officials were a little better, but Chaz Davies eleventh and Alvaro Bautista thirteenth undoubtedly hoped for better, especially 1.3 and 1.7 behind the leader. Times were more important than positions, with several riders riding two bikes.
But right now, who was the boss? Johnny Rea answered this question one hour from the end with the best provisional time in 1'42.413, ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu and alex lowes. No one had yet used qualifying tires, and we could therefore compare this time to the lap record of 1'42.385 set by Marco Melandri on a Ducati Panigale R in 2018.
Rea was refining the settings of his ZX-10RR, with the aim of a fifth world title: “ We continue to work on the electronics, but we don't make too fine adjustments. We played around a bit with the wheelbase length. We had a clear direction during the last winter tests in November. At Jerez I had sacrificed a bit of performance entering corners and that's what we tried to look for in order to make the bike a bit more manageable ».
With 45 minutes to go before the checkered flag, the four manufacturers were represented in the first six places with the Kawasaki of Rea 1st, Razgatlioglu 3rd and Haslam 5th, as well as the Yamaha of Lowes 2nd, the BMW of Sykes 4th and the Ducati of Bautista 6th. So in 7th position, Michael van der Mark, who was a little worried, still feeling the effects of his left scaphoid fractured in a crash in FP1 during the last race in Qatar, was reassured: “ For me it was important to see how my wrist was doing after the winter break and I feel pretty good with it. I will definitely be in great shape once we get to Phillip Island for the first race. Obviously there was a lot of work put in over the winter and it's good that those involved saw their efforts rewarded in the first test of the season. I am happy with what we achieved in Jerez and are now doing in Portimão ».
With only around twenty minutes remaining, Johnny Rea increased the pace further and went to 1'42.195, clearly below the lap record. The Northern Irishman then preceded Alex Lowes and Toprak Razgatlioglu by 0.4, then Tom Sykes, Leon Haslam and Michael van der Mark by 0.6.
For Marco Melandri, then at 0.8, the transition from the Ducati to the Yamaha was not going very well and he was last of the four official R1 riders at Jerez. “ For me the problem is that every time I put a new rear tire on it causes me a lot of trouble and I can't be efficient for a fast lap. But at least we learned something. We need time, it's not easy, but we have to progress step by step, follow my feelings and try to push harder when I'm ready ».
On the side of Ten Kate, Gregorio lavilla, Championship Sports Director for Dorna, plans to help the Dutch dealership return to having a decent number of bikes on the grid: “ We have almost 19 and our goal is 20 motorcycles ", said the former pilot. “ We must provide all stakeholders with a solid framework to achieve our goal. As an organizer, we must focus our efforts on this objective. We are two bikes short of our ideal number, but maybe there will still be access for this season ". Lavilla counts on Ten Kate Racing. The Dutch team lost support from Honda in the fall and is working behind the scenes. Dorna wants to help. “ We talk to each other. They plan to return this season and in the future “, Lavilla said. “ I can't say more about this. As organizer, we are waiting for their plans. In any case, they are welcome, because it is a traditional team. We can help them return as soon as possible ". There would be talk of a return during the third race, in Aragon, the first in Europe of the year. A French driver could be part of this team (confidential, and to be confirmed).
Johnny Rea finally retained the best time at the end of the day, 0.4 ahead of Alex Lowes, Alvaro Bautista and Toprak Razgatlioglu. Tom Sykes and his BMW followed at 0.6 just ahead of Michael van der Mark.
Results of the first day of testing:
Reference times in Superbike:
Test record: 1'40.705 by Eugene Laverty (Aprilia RSV4 RF) in 2018
Lap record: 1'42.385 by Marco Melandri (Ducati Panigale R) in 2018
In Supersport, the first half of the day was favorable to the Italian colors with Raffaele de Rosa who achieved the fastest lap in 1'46.240 on his MV Agusta, ahead of the two Yamahas from the GMT94 of Cluzel et Perolari which preceded the Kawasaki of Mahias.
Just over an hour from the checkered flag, Jules Cluzel set the best time in 1'45.694, more than half a second ahead of the MV Agusta of Neapolitan Raffaele de Rosa. Corentin Pérolari and Lucas Mahias were in ambush about a second behind, but Mahias jumped in 1'45.711, closing to 0.017 behind Jules.
Jules Danilo was not doing so badly in his discovery of Supersport, placing his Honda half a second behind the Yamaha of Cresson and Gradinger (Kallio Racing, reigning champion).
Corentin Perolari was evolving positively: As the 2018 season progressed, the results improved because I improved in each race. Christophe liked it and I get along very well with his team because they are there to win, they are there to do their best, and I really like that. It's a trustworthy team. They are really great people who help me progress.” The current flows well with Christophe Guyot who has confidence in the development of his young pilot: “ In 2018, Corentin managed to complete the first laps of the race several times with the leading pack, ultimately finishing not that far behind. With three races remaining, he finished at Magny-Cours 14 seconds behind the winner (Jules Cluzel). With two races remaining, he finished in Argentina 9 seconds behind the leader (Jules, again) and finally during the final race in Qatar he crossed the checkered flag 6 seconds behind the winner (Lucas Mahias). So it's a progression that never stopped since he got closer to the first each time. »
Jules Danilo, who on Wednesday and Thursday had not participated in the Jerez tests, was getting his bearings on his new CBR from Simon Buckmaster's CIA Landlord Insurance Honda team to best prepare for his first season in the Supersport World Championship, after five full seasons in GP , four in Moto3 and one in Moto2.
Jules cluzel remained realistic and concluded the day calmly: “ All this remains winter testing. We are here to work to be ready for the first round of the Championship at Phillip Island, and not the other way around. We are not in a race weekend, and our objective is to gradually reach a top level. ».
This Monday will take place the second and final day of testing in Portimão before meeting the competitors at Phillip Island for the first race of the year from February 22 to 24.
Reference times in Supersport:
Test record: 1'44.554 by Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta F3 675) in 2015
Lap record: 1'45.180 by Michele Pirro (Honda Ten Kate CBR600RR) in 2010
The official presentation of the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team is announced this Monday at 10:00 a.m. on https://twitter.com/AIAPortimao
Video: Michael van der Mark this Sunday in Portimao
Photos © Kawasaki, Yamaha, Ducati