La Marra, Rea and Lowes the best in the WorldSBK warm-up at Portimão

The World Superbike, Supersport and Superstock 1000 Championships woke up this Sunday to a completely different situation and conditions than before, as rain has made an appearance at the Portimão Circuit, so all the dry-weather training will be of no use.

The first to head out onto the track were the Superstock 1000 riders, riding slowly and cautiously to avoid problems, and the best time of this warm-up was set by Ducati rider La Marra. Without a doubt, his Panigale is working very well and proving it on track.

Behind them, the top 10 were Lussiana in 2nd, Barrier in 3rd, the championship leader and pole-sitter; Reiterberger 4th, Jezek 5th, Savadori 6th, McFadden 7th, Solorza 8th, Coghlan 9th and Guarnoni 10th. Meanwhile, our CEV representative, Santi Barragán, managed to finish this warm-up from 13th position, a new situation for him and the rest of the participants.

In Superbikes, the fastest in the warm-up was Jonathan Rea. Without a doubt, the news about his contract renewal with Honda has given him wings (quite literally), and he managed to lap in 1:56 in complicated track conditions. Behind him came Melandri in 2nd, Laverty 3rd, Baz 4th and Biaggi 5th, completing the top 5.

For their part, in the top ten positions were Camier 6th, Giugliano 7th, Badovini 8th, Checa 9th and Haslam 10th. A calm session for Checa, who did not want to take risks to avoid problems, while David Salom also chose not to push and finished from 23rd position, saving himself for the race.

A complicated day at Portimão, with difficult conditions and several crashes in the final part of the session, notably Loris Baz at Turn 10 and Sylvain Guintoli at Turn 15, fortunately both without physical complications.

The last to head out onto the track for the warm-up were the Supersport riders, with Sam Lowes being the fastest in this pre-race session, ahead of Scholtz in 2nd, Sofuoglu 3rd, Leonov 4th and Quarmby 5th, undoubtedly in very different conditions.

The rest of the top 10 went to Cluzel 6th, Marconi 7th, Nemeth 8th, Talmacsi 9th and Baldolini 10th. We also saw Tamburini crash, fortunately without consequences, and technical problems for Antonelli at the end of the session.

Now it’s time for the races.

Photo | WorldSBK