56 thousand people attended the Portuguese stage of the Superbike World Championship which ended this Sunday, 8 September, at the Algarve International Circuit, in Portimão. This is a new record.
Territory Jonathan Rea, the result of seven consecutive victories won by the world champion in Portimão, it was the Kawasaki driver who started off in the best way by setting the fastest lap in qualifying with a 1'40.372s, breaking last year's record set by Eugene Laverty.
Jonathan Rea took the 21st pole of his career and fifth of the season after 25 crazy minutes where 12 drivers were separated by just 1 second. Tom Sykes was second ahead of Sandro Cortese.
The first race, held on Saturday, the 8th, was dominated by the Kawasaki driver who, from an early age, stood out committed to extending the 81 points advantage in the championship with which he arrived at the AIA.
Rea was the best at the start and, right at turn 1, the bikes of Chaz Davies and Álvaro Bautista clashed, leaving the Spaniard in 18th, he who arrived in the Algarve still recovering from a shoulder injury.
Otherwise, Rea soon gained a secure advantage for the chasing platoon led by Tom Sykes. The BMW driver, however, was losing speed with the accumulation of laps and saw Chaz Davies emerge in the standings to close the 20 laps in second ahead of Michael Van Der Mark, himself after an excellent recovery, such as that signed by Álvaro Bautista, the fourth after climbing several places.
On Sunday, Jonathan Rea once again showed his superiority on the Algarve circuit by winning the Superpole Race – his ninth consecutive victory in the race – this time ahead of Álvaro Bautista and Alex Lowes.
All that was missing from the program was the final race reserved for Superbikes.
In a long format of 20 laps, decisions only came at the end. Even with an injured shoulder, Spanish driver Bautista managed to beat Rea and return to winning ways, thus keeping his aspirations for the championship still alive, even if remote.
Toprak Razgatlioglu was in second place, but in the end Rea reacted and crossed the finish line ahead of the Turk and just 111 thousandths off Bautista. Rea's record of victories on the Algarve track was thus broken.
In Supersport it was Federico Caricasulo who won at the end of an intense race that was eventually won by the Italian when the red flag was shown due to oil left on the track after a motorbike engine failed. Championship leader Randy Krummenacher was second and Lucas Mahias closed the podium on board the Pucetti Kawasaki.
Also decided on the final lap, the Supersport 300 race was won by Dutchman Scott Deroue who beat championship captain Manuel Gonzalez by just 153 thousandths with the lowest step on the podium falling to Ana Carrasco.
Comments