Motul FIM Superbike World Championship
Autodromo Internacional Algarve
Portimao, Portugal
September 17, 2017
Race Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):
1. Jonathan REA, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), 20 laps, Total Race Time 34:40.917, Best Lap Time 1:43.148
2. Michael VAN DER MARK, Netherlands (Yamaha YZF-R1), -5.834 seconds, 1:43.806
3. Marco MELANDRI, Italy (Ducati Panigale R), -9.201, 1:43.636
4. Eugene LAVERTY, Ireland (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -12.792, 1:43.494
5. Jordi TORRES, Spain (BMW S1000RR), -15.943, 1:44.024
6. Lorenzo SAVADORI, Italy (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -19.359, 1:43.866
7. Leandro MERCADO, Argentina (Aprilia RSV4 RF), -23.286, 1:44.162
8. Anthony WEST, Australia (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -36.982, 1:44.558
9. Ayrton BADOVINI, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -48.544, 1:45.969
10. Takumi TAKAHASHI, Japan (Honda CBR1000RR), -50.000, 1:45.745
11. Ondrej JEZEK, Czech Republic (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -51.944, 1:45.991
12. Alessandro ANDREOZZI, Italy (Yamaha YZF-R1), -56.705, 1:46.147
13. Xavi FORÉS, Spain (Ducati Panigale R), -67.518, crash, 1:44.046
14. Riccardo RUSSO, Italy (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -1 lap, crash, 1:45.096
15. Roman RAMOS, Spain (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), -4 laps, crash, pitted, 1:44.854
16. Chaz DAVIES, UK (Ducati Panigale R), -3 laps, DNF, crash, 1:43.285
17. Leon CAMIER, UK (MV Agusta F4 RC), -11 laps, DNF, mechanical, 1:43.886
18. Alex LOWES, UK (Yamaha YZF-R1), -13 laps, DNF, crash, 1:43.871
19. Raffaele DE ROSA, Italy (BMW S1000RR), -17 laps, DNF, crash. 1:44.314
20. Stefan BRADL, Germany (Honda CBR1000RR), DNS
21. Tom SYKES, UK (Kawasaki ZX-10RR), DNS
World Championship Point Standings (after 20 of 26 races):
1. Rea, 431 points
2. Sykes, 311
3. Davies, 296
4. Melandri, 250
5. Lowes, 169
6. Van Der Mark, 166
7. Fores, 156
8. Camier, 133
9. Torres, 130
10. Laverty, 117
11. Savadori, 99
12. TIE, Mercado/Ramos, 84
14. Bradl, 67
15. Randy Krummenacher, 50
16. Nicky Hayden (RIP), 40
17. De Rosa, 36
18. Alex De Angelis, 32
19. Markus Reiterberger, 29
20. Badovini, 25
21. Leon Haslam, 20
22. Jezek, 17
23. Russo, 12
24. West, 11
25. TIE, Jake Dixon/Takahashi, 7
27. TIE, Andreozzi/Josh Brookes/Julian Simon, 4
30. Gagne, 2
More, from a press release issued by Dorna:
Rea takes dominating double at Portimao
World Champion in imperious form in Portugal as he wins Race 2 ahead of Van der Mark and Melandri
Race 2 at the Portimao’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve saw Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) complete a perfect weekend, with a victory by almost six seconds over second-placed Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team). Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) rounded out the podium behind the leading pair.
In the absence of the injured Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) and with
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) crashing out with three laps to go in Race 2 it was another significant victory for Rea as he edges closer and closer to a third successive WorldSBK title.
The weekend could not have gone better for Rea as he won both races, secured pole position on Saturday and wrapped up the 2017 Pirelli Best Lap Award title. He now leads the general standings by 120 points over his teammate Sykes and could secure the 2017 WorldSBK title at Magny-Cours in two weeks time.
Van der Mark was delighted with his first podium with Yamaha after the Dutchman beat Melandri to the finish line by 3.367s. Just off the podium was Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), whilst Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) also featured in the top five.
Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Leandro Mercado (IODARacing), Anthony West (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), Ayrton Badovini (Grillini Racing Team) and Takumi Takahashi (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) completed the top ten.
There was a big crash for Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) midrace at turn 13, with Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) also going down shortly afterwards at turn 3. Fores picked his machine up to finish 13th.
After an exciting Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round the WorldSBK riders will next be in action at the Pirelli French Round in two weeks’ time, over the 29th September to 1st October weekend.
1st – Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team)
“It’s incredible. These weekends don’t come usually, I had to focus on how to ride the bike the best I can. I want to thank all my team, we had some difficulties, my bike cut out on the seventh lap but in the end it stayed on and I’m so happy. It’s now time to think about winning this championship.”
2nd – Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team)
“I am really happy, this season we have come close a couple of time and we have had a bit of bad luck. I had a good start, I struggled with the grip in the beginning, I found my rhythm and It was enough for a podium. I want to thank my team, we have worked so hard and to finally get a podium is fantastic.”
3rd – Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)
“It was a very difficult race, after three laps I lost the rear break and I went very wide. I tried to come back, but I lost a lot of time with Eugene but when I came back I tried to do my best to catch Michael. The pace wasn’t too bad, my pace was better than yesterday and I’m happier.”
More, from a press release issued by Althea BMW Racing:
Top five for Torres at Portimão
Portimão (Portugal), Sunday 17 September 2017
The Althea BMW Racing team has just concluded round ten of the Superbike world championship at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal. It proved to be a great second race for rider Jordi Torres, who crossed the line in fifth place, while Raffaele De Rosa unfortunately crashed out in the early stages.
Superbike – Race 2 – from third on the race grid, Torres suffered off the line, slipping back to eleventh position, just ahead of his team-mate De Rosa, lying twelfth. From there, both Althea BMW men pushed to try and make up for lost ground but on lap four, Raffaele unfortunately crashed, with no chance of continuing his race. Jordi meanwhile made a great recovery, catching and passing a series of riders to climb from tenth to sixth place by mid-race. The second half of the race proved to be a rather solitary affair for the Spaniard who, separated from both the riders immediately ahead of him and those behind, crossed the line in fifth place, a very positive result that reflects the hard work completed this weekend by rider and team alike.
After ten championship rounds, Torres lies ninth in the standings with 130 points while De Rosa has 36 points, and positions seventeenth.
Jordi Torres:
“I expected a good race today after a positive warm-up this morning. But it turned out to be a tough one, as the bike was sliding around a lot and there was some vibration. I struggled at the start especially, losing a lot of ground. I gradually got back into my rhythm, despite continuous sliding at the rear and the lack of grip. I did all I could to manage the situation and in the end we finished fifth. I’m quite pleased with the final result but not with how the race went; I want to do more.”
Raffaele De Rosa:
“I made quite a good start, maintaining my position. After having tried something different in warm-up, I was feeling a bit more comfortable on the bike. Unfortunately though, at a certain point I forced too hard in braking and crashed. I’m sorry, as we could have scored a good result today and improved on yesterday’s performance. Not what we wanted but we’ll continue to give it our all to try and do better next time…”
More, from a press release issued by Red Bull Honda:
Takahashi wraps up WorldSBK debut with top-10 finish as injury sidelines Bradl
Portuguese Round
Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, Portugal
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team has secured a top-10 finish today at Portimão’s Autodromo do Algarve courtesy of Takumi Takahashi, who wraps up his World Superbike debut in style after scoring his first World Championship point in race one yesterday. Full-time rider Stefan Bradl was unable to line up on the grid today due to a painful right wrist.
Takahashi enjoyed a good start from 18th place on the grid and immediately settled into a good rhythm, which allowed him to gain some positions. As the encounter reached its halfway point, the Japanese rider was promoted to 11th place. He then brilliantly maintained his position by getting some margin over the following riders. In the final stages of the encounter, Takumi made his way into the top-10, which he held onto up to the chequered flag.
Takahashi now leaves Portimão with a tally of six points and a lot more experience ahead of his track WorldSBK return, scheduled at Jerez in a little more than a month’s time.
After yesterday’s highside at turn 14 during race 1 – which had apparently left the German uninjured – Stefan Bradl endured severe pain in his right wrist overnight. The 27-year-old German rider tried to get on track this morning on board his Honda CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2 for warm up in order to test his condition, but after a quick-lap attempt the pain became too strong for him to use the throttle accordingly, so he had to make his way back to the pits.
He then returned to the Medical Centre, where he was declared unfit to race due a right-wrist functional impairment. Stefan will return home to undergo an MRI scan to investigate possible micro damage in his wrist, which x-ray scans did not reveal between yesterday and this morning.
The Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team will stop at Portimão for a day of official testing tomorrow, before returning to its home base in the Netherlands to start the preparations for the French Round, which takes place at Magny-Cours in a fortnight’s time.
Takumi Takahashi 72
10th
Today we made some improvements with the set-up on the bike and, although I had the same kind of issue to get up to speed in the early stages, in the last part of the race I found myself in a position trying to bridge the gap with Badovini for ninth place before the chequered flag. We managed to finish in the top-10 with a bit of luck today and we garnered more experience, so I am now looking forward to Jerez, a track I know already, in order to push for more.
Stefan Bradl 6
DNS
Unfortunately, yesterday’s crash led to some problems with my wrist. We did an x-ray yesterday and it showed no fracture or damage, but during the night the situation got a bit worse because I was really in lots of pain. I tried this morning during warm up with the help of Clinica Mobile – who I want to thank for the help – but I noticed almost immediately that I didn’t have the full control of the bike. I wasn’t fast because I was not in a condition to push, so I went back to the Clinica and the doctor suggested an MRI scan back home in order to search for any possible tiny crack or ligament damage that would explain the pain. Another very unlucky weekend for us, especially because we showed signs of improvement and things were looking better. But we can take these positives into the next race at Magny-Cours and I really hope I will be fully fit for then.
Ronald ten Kate
Team Manager
This morning during warm up we found out that Stefan’s problem was worse than we had feared. He tried to ride but he was in pain and had limited movement in the wrist, and therefore was declared unfit to ride. It’s a shame because he was looking good this weekend and we could have used another try for a good result. Takumi improved his performance from yesterday and a top-10 result is really good, considering it was his maiden weekend in the series. I’m sure things will be easier for him at Jerez, with the experience he’s made this weekend and his previous knowledge of the track.
More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:
Super Double For Rea And KRT
Jonathan Rea (KRT) completed a confident double win performance at Portimao in the FIM Superbike World Championship, despite starting today’s 20-lap race from ninth place – under the reverse grid rules that come into play for race two this year. Jonathan now has 11 wins for the season and he extended his championship lead to 120 points with another full points score today.
After his first Portimao race win on Saturday, from pole position, it was a more difficult challenge for Rea today. He took only two laps to get into the lead and despite a small electronics glitch at times he carried on at an unmatchable pace to record his 34th win for Kawasaki, becoming the company’s all-time WorldSBK race winner.
Rea now has 49 race wins over his entire WorldSBK career and is the third most successful rider in the history of the class. The record sits at 59 wins, set by the legendary Carl Fogarty.
Kawasaki scored a full house of wins in every class this weekend – with Rea’s double in WorldSBK, Kenan Sofuoglu in WorldSSP, Toprak Razgatlioglu in STK1000 and Ana Carrasco in WorldSSP300.
Jonathan was the lone KRT rider today as his team-mate Tom Sykes was in Barcelona undergoing surgery to repair left hand injuries suffered in a big crash in FP3 on Saturday morning.
With Tom unable to score today Jonathan moved 120 points clear in the championship fight, with Sykes second overall and race two faller Chaz Davies third, 135 points from Rea’s lead.
Three rounds of the championship remain, the first of them at Magny Cours in France, between 29th September and 1st October.
Jonathan Rea, stated: “I am really happy to win and aside from one little issue it was plain sailing race. I made some tough passes in the first laps to get my track position and as soon as I hit the front I made my rhythm and went away. We had a completely different bike set-up today. I had a lot of feedback from the bike and I was able to ride in my own rhythm but with seven or eight laps to go I had a drop in power in second gear. But as the laps were ticking down I could see that the gap was staying constant, and then I saw Chaz went out and I had some breathing space. We have had our bad luck this year in Donington. The championship lead is massive now and we can go to Magny Cours thinking about trying to win it in France. If we have a solid enough weekend in Magny Cours we can get it done. I said to Pere before the race today that because Kawasaki had won every race at Portimao there was big pressure now. He said that there was no pressure as we had done all the jobs, and I should go out and do what I had to do. I visited the podium in every single race at Portimao to say congratulations to the Kawasaki riders. The most impressive was Ana Carrasco. I have never seen an atmosphere like it and our pit box was like a football match. All the KRT team were up there at the podium, so it was cool to see.”
More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:
Difficult race for the Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team at Portimão: 3rd place for Melandri, Davies crashes out while 2nd
The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team once again stepped on the podium in Race 2 of the WorldSBK Championship at Portimão (Portugal) thanks to Marco Melandri’s third-place finish. At the end of a hard-fought race, the Italian managed to replicate his Race 1 result coming back from ninth position, with clear improvements in terms of race pace despite experiencing some issues under braking.
Chaz Davies’ quest, on the other hand, came to a premature end. With a strong start from third row, the Welshman made some spectacular passes to climb back to second position and build a comfortable gap, but he was forced to retire after crashing out at turn 2 with three laps to go.
After ten rounds, Davies (296 points) and Melandri (250 points) are respectively third and fourth in the championship. The Aruba.it Racing – Ducati team will resume action tomorrow for one-day official test ahead of the eleventh round of the season, scheduled for September 29th – October 1st at Magny Cours (France).
Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #33) – 3rd
“I’m happy because the team did a great job and today my Panigale R was more competitive, especially in terms of grip, but unfortunately we still couldn’t take full advantage of our potential and we struggled during the race. I started off well but soon had an issue with the thumb-activated rear brake and went wide at turn 10. Also, the bike was wobbling a lot on the straight. As I was trying to recover positions, I lost time fighting with some riders who didn’t have our pace and hindered us a bit so, when I managed to get behind VD Mark, he was too far by then. In tomorrow’s test we’ll focus on improving stability, and in the next races I want to step on top of the podium again.”
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – DNF
“It’s disappointing to finish the race like that because we’ve missed an easy podium. Our pace was OK, we were holding station with Rea without pushing over the top, but towards the end I relaxed a little and closed the the throttle a bit earlier than usual going into turn 2, which ended up loading the front too much, and I went down. I was surprised because it’s a strange place to crash, especially when you feel like you’re cruising. That said, we’ve definitely made improvements today, but we still want to make another step forward in terms of stability at the end of the race, something on which we’ll work on tomorrow. Looking at the positive, we’ve closed in to second position in the championship, due to Tom’s misfortune, and with him back we should have an interesting end to the season, so I’m looking forward to the next round.”
Stefano Cecconi, Aruba CEO and Team Principal
“Despite the three podiums, we can’t be happy because we would have liked to have done more in this round. The whole team worked with great efforts but, perhaps due to the peculiar nature of this track, we were forced to play defense. Now we need to look ahead, at Magny Cours, where we want to race at the front with both our riders again.”
More, from a press release issued by Yamaha:
Magic Michael takes Maiden Yamaha Podium in Race 2 at Portimao
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team’s Michael van der Mark stormed to his first podium for Yamaha in sensational fashion at Portimao on Sunday, round ten of the 2017 Superbike World Championship. The Dutch rider started on the front row and put in a super performance to bring his Yamaha R1 home in second place, moving up to sixth in the championship standings in the process. His teammate Alex Lowes was charging his way through the field after starting from tenth on the grid but suffered a highside on lap 8 that left him very battered and bruised, but miraculously he escaped any serious injuries.
All eyes were on van der Mark after his call-up to fill in for the injured Valentino Rossi in the Movistar Yamaha MotoGP team at the Aragon GP next weekend and he put on a superb display of riding in Sunday’s Race 2 to secure his best result yet for the Pata Yamaha team. Starting from the middle of the front row, the 24-year-old did not quite have the grip levels to push to the maximum during the first few laps and dropped down to fifth, but then settled into a good rhythm and started to close the gap to the riders in front. On lap 4 he passed Leon Camier to move into fourth and set his sights next on Eugene Laverty in third. Showing incredible consistency in his lap times while others started to struggle, the former World Supersport Champion hunted down Laverty by lap 11, making his move and immediately opening up a gap. As the race continued to progress he was matching the pace of Chaz Davies ahead of him before, with 3 laps remaining, Davies crashed out and van der Mark was promoted to second. Continuing to ride hard right until the end after having been denied a previous podium in Misano in the dying stages of a race through no fault of his own, he crossed the line in second place to the delight of his team and fans to collect 20 championship points. This saw him move up to sixth in the championship standings with 166 points, just three points behind his teammate Lowes.
Lowes lined up at the front of the fourth row on the grid for Sunday’s Race 2 and when the lights went out he made a good start. A few laps later and he was up into eighth and became involved in an excellent battle with Marco Melandri, Lorenzo Savadori, and Jordi Torres – with Lowes setting lap times that would have seen him battling for the podium – before a huge highside on lap 8 at Turn 13 ended his race. Unbelievably, Lowes walked away battered and bruised but with no serious injuries and the 27-year-old British rider is determined to bounce back at the next round in Magny Cours. After this result, Lowes currently sits fifth in the championship standings with 169 points and will head to France taking the positives from a challenging weekend.
The Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team will remain in Portimao on Monday for the official one-day test, before heading to Magny-Cours for round eleven of the 2017 FIM Superbike World Championship on the 29th September – 1st October. Check out the Race 2 results.
Michael van der Mark
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team – 2nd +5.834s
“It’s amazing to finish on the podium after so much bad luck this year! We have struggled sometimes with the setup of the bike and have been close to the podium a couple of times only to miss out. It wasn’t really easy, but I knew I had quite a good pace and starting from P2 helped me a lot. At the start of the race I was lacking a bit of grip, so I couldn’t follow the front guys for the first couple of laps, but then I found my pace. It was a really difficult race but I was stronger than the guys behind me. I got a bit lucky that Chaz Davies crashed out but I am so happy to have got my first podium with Yamaha. We have worked so hard all year and I am so glad to finally reward my team and Yamaha with a podium. When you finally take a podium, you get the self-belief because you know you can do it. Everything came together today and it is always good to be standing on the podium and now I want to enjoy this feeling at every race. We found a really good base setup that seems to work everywhere, so we will start with the same bike in Magny-Cours after tomorrow’s test, where we only need to adjust some small things with the bike and I am looking forward to the next race! “
Alex Lowes
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team – DNF
“Obviously, I am really disappointed with the Race 2 crash. It didn’t feel like I had done an awful lot wrong but the rear skipped round on me and resulted in quite a big crash. It is even more disappointing as after a busy start to the race from the fourth row I was starting to feel comfortable and was closing quickly on the group in front of me, but unfortunately, in the end instead of two really solid results we have scored no points this weekend. I am feeling very bashed around right now, but more than that is the disappointment. I am determined to bounce back from this and as a team make sure we learn what we can so that we can move forward to Magny-Cours with a positive attitude.”
Paul Denning
Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team Principal
“Everybody in the Pata Yamaha WorldSBK project is so pleased for Michael that he has achieved his first podium for the team. He showed very strong consistency yesterday and with the help of his crew took another small step forward in his R1’s performance today and his efforts have been rewarded with a great result. We had a little bit of positive luck to have finished in second rather than third after Davies’ crash, but the podium position before that was solely on merit and Michael and the team should be proud of their performance. Alex, at one of his favourite tracks, has had such a disappointing weekend in terms of results and was fortunate to escape serious injury in a very nasty looking highside today. These things happen in racing but it was really such a shame as Alex had just found his rhythm and settled into much better lap times than the podium challenging group and was closing rapidly to join the fight with Michael. We could have quite possibly had two Pata Yamaha R1s on the podium today but we will count our blessings that we achieved a great result with Michael and that Alex has escaped relatively unscathed and is able to resume the fight for the best possible championship finish at the next round in Magny-Cours.”