WSBK: Rea Claims Championship Lead with Portimao Race 2 Victory

Jonathan Rea completed the triple in Portimao with victory in Race 2 and claimed the championship lead for the first time this season.

The Kawasaki rider led from start to finish and took the chequered flag more than four seconds ahead of Scott Redding who came out top of a fierce battle with Michael van der Mark.

Challenging conditions at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with hot temperatures and strong wind as well as the notoriously difficult Turn 5 caught out many riders in the 20-lap race, among them Toprak Razgatlioglu and Alex Lowes.

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) got off well from pole position and led the field into Turn 1 ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) and Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing). Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) was in attack mode from the get-go and moved past Baz for third at Turn 3.

Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) was the first rider to fall victim to Turn 5 and went down on the opening lap but rejoined the race. The front group of four with Rea, Razgatlioglu, Redding and Baz was swiftly reduced to three when Baz lost the front at the final corner and crashed out of the race.

Crossing the line for Lap 2, Redding pulled out of the slipstream on the start/finish straight and dived down Razgatlioglu’s inside at Turn 1 to take second off him. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Official Team) started to close in on the front group while Rea in the lead was already lining up his breakaway three laps into the race.

Further up the field Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing Ducati) executed his sixth overtake of the race with 16 laps to go, passing Leon Haslam (Team HRC) for sixth. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team GoEleven) right behind them was yet again running at great pace and put immediate pressure on the Honda rider.

Rea meanwhile had established a comfortable lead out front and the race looked his to lose already. Back in the chasing group van der Mark capitalised on the slipstream on the start/finish straight going into Lap 6 and dived down Lowes’ inside at Turn 1 to take fourth off him.

The fight for the remaining podium spots was reduced to just two riders when first Razgatlioglu lost the front at Turn 5 with 14 laps to go, followed by Lowes going down at the same corner a lap later. While the Yamaha rider was able to rejoin the race, Lowes had to retire his Kawasaki.

The crashes out front lifted Davies into fourth position, now with a small advantage over Haslam and Rinaldi. Behind them Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) was running in a lonely eighth place ahead of Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team).

Haslam lost fifth on Lap 12 when he also got caught out at Turn 5 and had to pick his Honda out the gravel. Honours were restored for HRC though only a lap later when Bautista moved past Rinaldi to claim fifth back for the Japanese manufacturer.

While Rea looked safe in first, the rest of the podium was far from decided. Redding and van der Mark were running closely together and with seven laps remaining the Dutchman lunged down the Ducati’s inside at Turn 5 when Redding struggled on the brakes and ran wide. Revenge came swiftly for Redding when van der Mark himself ran wide at Turn 14 and left the door open for the Brit to reclaim second.

Untroubled by the battle behind him, Rea was in cruise control out front and took the chequered flag for his third win of the weekend. Redding fought off van der Mark in the late stages of the race to come home second and limit the damage done to his championship campaign.

Davies rode to a controlled fourth place ahead of Bautista who equalled Honda’s best finish of the season in fifth. Rinaldi was top independent rider in sixth from Sykes and Razgatlioglu who made a great comeback after his crash. Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) came home ninth ahead of Leandro Mercado (Motocorsa Racing) who rounded out the top 10 and secured his best finish of the season.

Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha World SBK Junior Team) finished 11^th while Laverty just fought off Haslam, both having rejoined the race after crashes at Turn 5, for 12^th. Marco Melandri (Barni Racing Team) was 14^th and Sylvain Barrier (Brixx Performance) took the final point on offer in 15^th.

Outside the points ranks, Christophe Ponsson (Nuova M2 Racing) was 16^th ahead of the two MIE Racing Althea Hondas of Lorenzo Gabellini and Takumi Takahashi.

Baz, Lowes, Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Maximilian Scheib (Orelac Racing Verdnatura) did not complete the race.

Rea leaves Portimao leading the championship for the first time this season. He sits four points ahead of Redding with Razgatlioglu a further 29 points behind.