Injured Lowes bounces back to lead the way in Portugal
Near perfect weather greeted the WorldSBK paddock on their returns to action this weekend for the Pirelli Portuguese Round. Blue skies and sunshine with temperatures over 20°C offered a stark contrast to the recent test at the Autodromo Internacional Algarve. This weather saw Sam Lowes lead the way for the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team.
- Having suffered a fractured left wrist at the season opening round Lowes was able to complete 32 laps throughout the course of the day. In addition, he topped the times in both sessions.
- Championship leader Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was second fastest with a Ducati 1-2-3 closing the day at the top of the time sheets. This was after 90 minutes of action.
- The day was blighted by crashes in the afternoon session. Notably, Jonathan Rea, returning to WorldSBK action as a replacement rider at Honda HRC, suffered a high speed crash at Turn 11. Meanwhile, his teammate, Somkiat Chantra, ended the session in the Turn 15 gravel trap.
- Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) crashed at Turn 5 along with Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team). However, they all ended inside the top six on the combined times.
- The Portuguese crowd has a home hero to cheer this weekend. Importantly, Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) started the weekend with the eighth fastest time.
P1 – Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team):
“Today was positive because I expected my wrist to feel worse. I’m happy with the progress even if I’d still like it to be a bit better. This track suits our bike and the Ducati package quite well. We tested here and that gives us a small advantage. Our pace was strong at the end. I was also quick this morning, with a 1’40.2, which was competitive but I know that the key is to manage the final part of the race. If I can stay there in the last six to eight laps I feel like I can fight for something. Today was encouraging.”
P2 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati):
“Our position isn’t bad but honestly the feeling wasn’t very good today. I struggled to find the right setup and I wasn’t able to push at 100%. I’d say that I’m at around 90% so I just tried to ride and improve this afternoon. It was a bit difficult and I know that we need to take a step forward for tomorrow and I’m sure we’ll find a solution. In general we need to improve a bit everywhere but the main issue is braking. There are many heavy braking areas here and I don’t have the same feeling as last year. Our race pace wasn’t bad but I wasn’t fully comfortable. I hope we can improve tomorrow because there are definitely some fast guys out there.”
P3 – Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team):
“I need something more from the bike, especially with the front feeling. We have to analyse the data and try to make a step forward for tomorrow. We just need to keep working. At the moment there are a few riders who can fight for the podium and it will be a tough fight tomorrow. The key is to improve the feeling with the bike so I can push properly in the races.”
P8 – Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team):
“It was a good day but our position doesn’t really reflect the work we did. During the afternoon session we were strong, especially in the first stint, so I felt fast and competitive. On the second set of tyres something didn’t work. I’m not sure if it was tyre-related or something else, and we couldn’t put together good laps. That was frustrating because the potential was there to be inside the top five. Based on the ideal lap time we were only about three tenths from P1, which shows what we’re capable of. We need some small tweaks to make the bike more user-friendly in certain corners but the potential is there. Now it’s about putting everything together.”
Combined Results after FP2
1. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) 1’39.941s
2. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.247s
3. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.410s
4. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.501s
5. Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.517s
6. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.535s
Fifth career Superpole for Oncu
- Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) set a new Superpole lap record at Portimao. This allowed him to claim the fifth pole position of his Supersport career.
- Valentin Debise qualified on the front row of the grid for the second time on the all-new ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing machine. The Frenchman set the pace in Free Practice 1 this morning and will line up second on the grid for Race 1. Championship leader Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) will start from fourth on his Yamaha YZF-R9.
- A late red flag was caused by a technical failure for Josh Whatley (Orelac Racing Verdnatura). However, the British rookie still qualified on the fourth row of the grid while Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) was one of the few riders to improve following the restart. The Frenchman moved from fifth to third on the grid.
P1 – Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing):
“I’m very happy. The first round was quite difficult because we didn’t have enough time to really get to know each other and adapt to everything. When so many things change it’s not easy at the beginning. But after that first race we have improved a lot together. I started to understand better what the team needs from me and I also changed my approach to adapt to them. I feel much more comfortable now and I’m back in the position I was fighting for last year. I’m very excited for tomorrow’s race.”
Superpole Results
1. Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing) 1’42.670s
2. Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) +0.633s
3. Lucas Mahias (GMT94 Yamaha) +0.687s
4. Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) +0.823s
5. Philipp Oettl (Feel Racing WorldSSP Team) +0.843s
6. Jaume Masia (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) +0.936s
Vannucci takes inaugural Sportbike Superpole
- The Sportbike class makes its debut this weekend and Matteo Vannucci (Revo-M2) delivered pole position during an action packed Tissot Superpole session. The Italian, aboard an Aprilia RS 660 Factory, set the pace by just 0.01s from Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) and David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI). This happened after a highly competitive session.
- The grid features former WorldSSP300 champions Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) and Benat Fernandez (Kove Racing Team 109). They qualified on the second and seventh row respectively.
- The Sportbike class will have seven manufacturers on the grid for the class debut tomorrow. Meanwhile, the top ten on the grid will feature six of them.
P1 – Matteo Vannucci (Revo-M2):
“I feel really good with the Aprilia. It’s my first time here with this bike and I’m enjoying it a lot. I set my personal best lap of the weekend in the Superpole session so I’m very happy and I want to thank everyone in the team for the amazing job. We’ve worked hard this week with the test too and I hope that I can break away at the front in tomorrow’s race. I expect that it’ll be a big battle with the Suzukis and the Kawasakis.”
Superpole Results
1. Matteo Vannucci (Revo-M2) 1’48.553s
2. Ferre Fleerackers (Track&Trades Wixx Racing) +0.010s
3. David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) +0.206s
4. Kas Beekmans (VLR Racing Team Suzuki) +0.232s
5. Jeffrey Buis (Track&Trades Wixx Racing) +0.289s
6. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) +0.314s