World Superbike Race Lap Record: Jonathan Rea, 1:42.304, 2018

World Superbike All-Time/Pole Lap Record: Eugene Laverty, 1:40.705, 2018

Motul FIM Superbike World Championship

Autodromo Internacional do Algarve

Portimao, Portugal

September 6, 2019

Free Practice Two Results (all on Pirelli tires):

1. Alvaro Bautista, Spain (Duc Panigale V4 R), 1:42.334

2. Jonathan Rea, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:42.510

3. Sandro Cortese, Germany (Yam YZF-R1), 1:42.586

4. Toprak Razgatlioglu, Turkey (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:42.638

5. Chaz Davies, UK (Duc Panigale V4 R), 1:42.649

6. Alex Lowes, UK (Yam YZF-R1), 1:42.776

7. Tom Sykes, UK (BMW S1000RR), 1:42.778

8. Loris Baz, France (Yam YZF-R1), 1:42.933

9. Markus Reiterberger, Germany (BMW S1000RR), 1:42.949

10. Michael Rinaldi, Italy (Duc Panigale V4 R), 1:43.139

11. Michael Van Der Mark, Netherlands (Yam YZF-R1), 1:43.180

12. Leon Haslam, UK (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:43.242

13. Jordi Torres, Spain (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:43.242

14. Eugene Laverty, Ireland (Duc Panigale V4 R), 1:43.467

15. Leandro Mercado, Argentina (Kaw ZX-10RR), 1:43.579

16. Marco Melandri, Italy (Yam YZF-R1), 1:43.675

17. Takumi Takahashi, Japan (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:44.560

18. Sylvain Barrier, France (Duc Panigale V4 R), 1:45.168

19. Ryuichi Kiyonari, Japan (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:45.354

20. Alessandro Delbianco, Italy (Hon CBR1000RR SP2), 1:45.434, crash

More, from a press release issued Yamaha:

Top Three for Pata Yamaha’s Lowes on Opening Day in Portimão

Free practice

It was Alex Lowes who led the Yamaha charge on the opening day in Portugal, as the FIM Superbike World Championship exploded back into action at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portimão. The Pata Yamaha WorldSBK rider ended the day third fastest with his time from this morning’s first free practice, as rising track temperatures and reduced grip saw only one of the top ten riders improve during this afternoon’s second 50-minute session.

Michael van der Mark trailed his Pata Yamaha teammate by just two-tenths to secure fifth place on the timesheet on the opening day, again with a fastest lap posted during the cooler conditions of FP1 this morning.

The two Pata Yamaha riders declared themselves satisfied with their pace on the opening day, with both confident of further improvements ahead of WorldSBK Race 1 tomorrow afternoon.

GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK rider, Sandro Cortese, showed that he is now fully recovered from the shoulder injury that hampered him in the previous two rounds. The reigning Supersport World Champion focused on tyre testing on the opening day, which he finished in seventh position, after posting almost identical lap times in both practice sessions.

It proved a difficult opening day once again for Marco Melandri, who is still struggling to find a set-up on his GRT Yamaha YZF-R1 to suit his riding style. The veteran Italian and his crew opted for a different direction with set-up here in Portimão but were left frustrated when the expected improvements failed to materialise. Melandri will focus tomorrow on increasing his confidence in the front, in a bid to rediscover his form from earlier in the season.

Loris Baz, who arrived in Portimão straight from the Pre-Bol d’Or test at the Circuit Paul Ricard, focused on race set-up and tyre strategy in free practice today, including a long race run when the track temperature was at its highest this afternoon. The Frenchman was happy with his pace in race trim but will be looking to shave a few tenths of his lap time on new tyres ahead of qualifying tomorrow.

Alex Lowes

Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – P3 – 1’42.051

“It’s always the same here in Portimão, with the track conditions changing as the temperature goes up. But today was the best I’ve felt here in the hotter conditions, so it was a good second practice session. We tried something right at the end that didn’t quite work as we were expecting, but it’s been really positive with plenty of laps on used tyres. There are still a couple of areas in which I’d like to improve, such as on corner exit where I need to be a bit smoother when the track temperature is higher and the surface is a little bit greasy. We’ll have a look through the data tonight to see if we can find some improvements, but I’m happy to be back on the bike and looking forward to tomorrow.”

Michael van der Mark

Pata Yamaha WorldSBK – P5 – 1’42.277

“It’s been a solid opening day here in Portugal. The first session this morning was a good one for us, even if the track didn’t feel the same as it did at the test here last month. But that’s typical Portimão and not unexpected. I struggled a little bit with the front feeling on the bike, so it’s also been challenging, especially this afternoon with the increase in track temperature. We’re still working to improve our pace in the heat, but the best set-up for this is proving a little elusive at the moment. But we’re definitely going in the right direction because the feeling with the bike improved at the end this afternoon. We have a few ideas to try tomorrow, but we’ll be ready to race.”

Sandro Cortese

GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK – P9 – 1’42.585

“I had a positive feeling today. We tried many things on the bike, including some new tyres from Pirelli that we weren’t able to try at the test here. As a result, I think we’re pretty much settled on the race tyre, which means we can focus on some of the smaller details in the final free practice tomorrow. I’m quite happy, especially with the feeling in the hotter conditions this afternoon. With a little less grip available I’m able to control the bike with the sliding and I was able to make exactly the same lap time this afternoon as I did this morning, which is positive. Overall I feel much better than at the previous two rounds and I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

Marco Melandri

GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK – P13 – 1’42.981

“Today was not such an easy one for me. At the moment it seems that the more we try to improve the worse things get. Here we are trying a different direction with the set-up of the bike, but it looks like even this Is not working for my riding style. It’s difficult because we’re working hard, but we’re not seeing any results. Tomorrow I will continue trying to build my confidence in the bike, which is what I need to be able to brake how I want and carry more speed into the corner. The issue is mostly the feeling with the front, but the bike is also moving a lot underneath me and is very aggressive, so this is where we need to focus our efforts.”

Loris Baz

Ten Kate Yamaha Supported WorldSBK – P8 – 1’42.575

“I think the track here in Portimão is a bit strange for everyone after the test; we expected to have the same sensation and it’s a bit different but not too bad. We worked a lot today on our race pace and tyre conservation for the race, including a long run this afternoon in the hotter conditions. Like always here in Portimão, you need to work to have the best bike possible at the end of the race and, at the moment, we’re not so far off where we need to be. Tomorrow we need to find a few tenths on a new tyre, but I’m happy with the pace we’ve shown today, especially on the long run.”

More, from a press release issued by Kawasaki:

Rea Leads Early Portimao WorldSBK Pace

KRT rider Jonathan Rea finished the first day of action at Portimao in the leading position after the completion of the first two free practice sessions at the 4.592km long circuit in Portugal. His team-mate Leon Haslam was overall sixth today.

With the ambient temperatures rising in the second 50-minute session of the day the track temperatures also climbed, meaning the best times for all but one of the riders inside the top ten were set in the morning session.

In the afternoon Rea finished second in FP2 but still fastest of all due to his morning best. Haslam experienced some issues in FP2 and was 12th, but ultimately inside the top six places in the combined rankings on the return to competitive action for all in WorldSBK. Just 0.857 seconds separated the top 12 riders today.

After the first two 50-minute sessions Rea and Haslam have now gone a long way in their pre-race preparations. Now short FP3 session will take place on Saturday morning, followed by Tissot Superpole qualifying and then Race One, over 20-laps on Saturday afternoon.

Each KRT rider was able to refer to data from their experiences at the official Portimao test sessions, which took place just two weeks before today’s track action.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “This morning the track was a little bit green and the kerbs were a little bit slippery, but the track has now ‘rubbered-in’. I feel we have improved the bike a little bit from the tests we did recently, but we can still improve a little bit more for tomorrow. We have just a few areas to improve and this morning we worked on the different rear tyre options we have for the race. This afternoon I worked on finding a rhythm and putting some laps on a tyre. The consistency looked very good. For day one, I feel quite good with the bike.”

Leon Haslam, stated: “This morning was positive, this afternoon we had a small issue. Always it is very different here from the morning to the afternoon, because of the temperature change. But I feel confident because there is always a big battle here and it is usually a difficult race. Overall, the result this afternoon was not so good for the lap times but the feeling is still strong for the race tomorrow.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) went into fourth place after day one in Portugal and was the top independent rider as a result of his early pace. He also tested at Portimao recently and is now attempting to win his first WorldSBK race, having already earned several podiums this season.

Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki) found the feel from the track much changed from the recent test and was ranked 15th, as he worked to improve his machine settings and balance. Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) was 16th fastest today.

More, from a press release issued by Moriwaki Althea Honda Team:

Takumi Takahashi and Ryuichi Kiyonari begin preparation for tomorrow’s first race.

A fairly hot and sunny day saw Moriwaki Althea Honda’s Takumi Takahashi and Ryuichi Kiyonari begin to prepare for tomorrow’s first race day making up the Portuguese WorldSBK weekend.

The Japanese pair spent the day working on their bikes’ setup, trying to find a solution to suit the track’s low level of grip.

Takumi set his personal fastest time during the morning’s session, a 1’44.062 (P17), as did Ryuichi with 1’44.574 (P18), but neither was able to improve on those references later in the day, also due to the afternoon’s higher temperature which had an even greater effect in terms of lack of grip.

Tomorrow’s Free Practice 3 will start at 09:00 local time followed by the Superpole qualifying session, set to get underway at 11:00, and then Race1 at 14:00.

Takumi Takahashi

17TH 1’44.062

“Today we experienced quite different, and more demanding, track conditions with respect to what we saw during testing here a fortnight ago, probably due to the higher temperatures. We worked mainly on suspension settings, looking for more grip, but we were not able to improve over the two sessions. Anyway, we have gathered a lot of information and tomorrow we will try a different direction”.

Ryuichi Kiyonari

18TH 1’44.547

“It’s a pity that this afternoon we were not able to improve on our performance because this morning we started in a positive way, having tested here at the end of August, and I felt good on the bike. We tried to move forward in the afternoon, but I think we took the wrong direction and the high temperature also did not help. Anyway, I think it’s always worth a try. Tomorrow we’ll go back to a set up more similar to what we used in testing, but with some new ideas we have following today’s experience”.

More, from a press release issued by Aruba.it Racing Ducati:

World Superbike in Portugal: second and tenth place respectively for Álvaro Bautista and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on the opening day of free practice at the Autodromo do Algarve

At the end of the first two free practice sessions for the Portuguese Round of the Superbike World Championship, scheduled to take place this weekend at the Algarve circuit, both Aruba.it Racing – Ducati riders were classified inside the top 10, with Bautista in second place and Davies in tenth.

Bautista, second in the morning’s FP1 session behind his rival Rea (Kawasaki), topped the timesheets in the second session, but as the temperatures were higher in the afternoon, he was unable to further improve on the time of 1’42.009 set in the morning, and had to settle for second in the combined standings.

Davies, eleventh in the morning, was instead one of the few riders to improve in FP2 (fifth quickest) and he finished the day in tenth place with a best lap of 1’42.649.

Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #19) – 2nd (1’42.009)

“Today was a very positive day because, as I had problems with my shoulder in the tests two weeks ago, it was important to verify my physical condition and luckily everything went OK as the pain was a lot less. In the afternoon we did more laps than in the morning because it was important to work on the setup and tyre choice in the hot conditions that for sure we will also find in the race. I’m optimistic, I’ve got a good feeling with my Panigale V4 R and physically I feel quite good.”

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) – 10th (1’42.649)

“Today all in all it wasn’t bad, we got back into the swing of things and lapped with a good pace. But it seems like the grip is definitely down compared to the test and the track is slower because people were doing better lap times two weeks ago. Today we just tried to focus on the set-up details for these conditions. We’ve got some ideas for tomorrow to improve the stability of the bike and the grip with the high track surface temperature.”

More, from a press release issued by BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team:

HOT conditions for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team on the opening day of Round 10 in Portimão.

06.09.19

Autódromo Internacional do Algarve

BMW Motorrad WorldSBK’s Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger kicked of this weekend Acerbis Portuguese Round following FP1 and FP2 at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve.

This morning FP1 session got under way with track temperatures of around 37°C. Markus Reiterberger eager to return to the action managed to comfortably put his BMW S 1000 RR into P7, just +0.500 behind championship leader Jonathan Rea. Tom Sykes unfortunately didn’t get his weekend of how we would have hoped following a small crash at T14 – he would end the session in P12.

As the day progressed into the afternoon the track temperature increased to 46°C, which saw only 5 riders out the 20 improve on their FP1 time. Tom Sykes despite his difficult FP1 managed to get some good solid lap times under his belt, whilst gaining data and more crucially a realistic race simulation in the likely hot conditions tomorrow. Markus Reiterberger backed up his good performance from this morning as he again found himself in the top 10, P7 on overall times.

Shaun Muir

Team Principal:

“A good day for Markus, he’s been comfortably in the top 10 all day and tried a few different set ups with the bike throughout FP1 and FP2 which puts him in a good position for tomorrow. Tom unfortunately had a tip off during this mornings FP1 which set us back some time however, managed to get some data in FP2 which again will bode well for the hot conditions in tomorrows race.”

“I think P12 is not where we are realistically, that result was from this morning where we didn’t push and obviously the conditions were better. This afternoon in race conditions I was very happy with the changes we made to the BMW S 1000 RR and gained some good information, so overall I’m feeling quite comfortable and confident in those hot conditions which for me is the real preparations for the race tomorrow.”

Markus Reiterberger:

“Today was a good day, overall P7 which is not so bad and just only +0.500 behind the front guys. This morning I enjoyed my riding and tested out the tyres which gave us a good direction to work in. This afternoon it was really hot which made It difficult continue the same lap times as this morning so we focused on getting the balance of the bike and the tyre wear. Tomorrow we will try to work on the brake stability but for sure I will be again pushing for the top 10.”