Álvaro Bautista is in Portimao for the first time to become a two-time Superbike champion. The Spaniard needs to score 15 points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu in weekend calculations. For now In Saturday’s Superpole he was fifth, definitely just behind Turkish. The one that appears in the first position is Jonathan Rea, who achieved what was his fourth pole so far this season riding KRT.
The British driver was the fastest, clocking 1.39.620 ahead of his teammate, Alex Lowes, which remained at about a tenth and a half. The first row of the grid was closed by Locatelli with Yamaha, more than two tenths behind the six-time world champion. Of course, the The Italian is late because of the sanction he brought from Aragon.
As for the two title contenders, Razgatlioglu won the game against Bautista by 98 thousandths and the Turkish will start fourth and the Spanish fifth. The result is not ideal to face the match-ball that Álvaro has tomorrow but the pace is not bad at all given his dominance in the previous free practice sessions.
The influence of yellow flags
Rea’s time was close to breaking his own record but the problem was that the Northern Irishman was lowering his times when some yellow flags caused by the fall of Xavi Vierge. Despite falling short of a record, it was KRT’s first double in a year.
The ones clearly affected by Vierge’s accident were Rinaldi and Gardner, who broke into the TOP5 but had their times invalidated and they were relegated to additional positions at the back. It turned out better for Álvaro who was originally going to start seventh.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
