Álvaro Bautista tops the 2023 SBK pre-season test at Portimão

The World Superbike Championship held its 2023 pre-season test at the Portimão Circuit in Portugal, with reigning champion Álvaro Bautista setting the fastest combined time on the Portuguese track, although Jonathan Rea was very close to the Ducati rider’s times.

The first day of action belonged to Michael Rinaldi on his Ducati, who set a lap of 1:39.639, with Jonathan Rea in second place but very close to the day leader’s times, just 0.061s behind. Third place went to Bautista, who was also right on the pace of his teammate and Rea, only 0.068s off the 21 time.

The top 10 was completed by Razgatlioglu 4th, Locatelli 5th, Vierge 6th, Lowes 7th, Lecuona 8th, Gardner 9th and Gerloff 10th.

The second day went to Álvaro Bautista, so the Ducatis dominated the 2023 pre-season test at Portimão. The champion set a time of 1:39.035, becoming the fastest across the combined lap times of the entire session, so the best of this test was Álvaro.

Behind him, Jonathan Rea finished just 0.009s from first, showing that the Kawasakis are also performing well at the start of pre-season, while rounding out the top 3 was Rinaldi, 0.109s behind his teammate.

The top 10 of the second day was completed by Toprak 4th, Locatelli 5th, Lecuona 6th, Gardner 7th, Vierge 8th, Sykes 9th and Lowes 10th.

On to the next 2023 pre-season test.