Jonathan Rea | Photo credits: Roadracing World
After dominating both test sessions in Jerez (in November and last week), Rea also dominated the two days’ test session in Portugal. The Kawasaki rider and reigning champion ended the test with the fastest lap time of 1m49.855s, just a tenth away of the circuit record in possession of Eugene Laverty, set last year on the Milwaukee Aprilia during the Portuguese round.
Jonathan Rea, who continues to work on chassis setup, was so fast during this test session that the second fastest rider, Alex Lowes (PATA Yamaha), was almost one second slower than the Kawasaki rider!
Third on the final lap times, Alvaro Bautista continues to impress on his debut as a World Superbike rider coming from MotoGP. The Spaniard is still getting acquainted with the new Ducati Panigale R superbike and the Pirelli tyres, very different from the Michelin tyres used by MotoGP prototypes he has raced the last few years, and third in this test shows that Bautista might be one of the biggest rivals to Jonathan Rea and Kawasaki.
It’s also worth mentioning that Tom Sykes and Markus Reiterberger, took the new factory spec BMW S1000RR bikes of the new BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team to the track. The faster rider on the German bike was, without any surprise, Tom Sykes, with the former champion clocking a best lap of 1m42.246s, almost 1,4 seconds slower than Rea. Sykes leaves this test happy, but given the S1000RR is in its very early stages of development, and this is a new team, the British rider will still need more time on the bike to get to grips.
Jonathan Rea | Photo credits: Roadracing World
The World Superbike paddock is now on its way to Phillip Island, Australia, where on February 18 and 19 they’ll enjoy another test session, before the first round of the season, precisely in Australia, February 22 to 24.