Michael van der Mark ended his weekend at the Portuguese Round on a high as he stood on the podium for the first time with Yamaha, taking second position with a strong pace around the Portimao circuit.

Struggling to take a top five finish in Saturday’s race one the Dutch rider started on the front row in race two under the new grid reshuffling rules.

Getting a steady start in the 20 lap race, the 24 year old was soon able to get into a comfortable pace and began setting lap times faster than the riders behind him, meaning he was secure in his third position battle.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati)’s crash in the closing laps left  van der Mark in a lucky position, as he was able to move into second position and take the podium finish in front of the Portuguese fans.

“It’s amazing to finish on the podium,” beamed van der Mark. “We have had so much bad luck this year, we have struggled with the set up of the bike and this weekend it wasn’t easy, but I knew I had quite a good pace, and starting from P2 helped me a lot."

"In the opening laps I was lacking some rear grip and I couldn’t stay up with the front guys, but then I found my pace and it was a really difficult race, I didn’t feel good on my bike, I was stronger than the guys behind me, I got a bit lucky with Chaz’s crash and I want to say thanks to the team." He sumrised

Tom Sykes has undergone surgery on the fracture he sustained on his finger following his crash on Saturday in Portugal.

The operation took place on Sunday (17^th September) at the iMove Traumatology centre of the Mi Tres Torres Clinic in Barcelona and a rapid, favorable recovery is expected.

KRT rider Sykes suffered a tough crash in FP3 at Round 10 of the season at turn 9 of the Portimao track, resulting in a displaced fracture of the little finger of his left hand and fissures of the fourth finger of the same hand and the left wrist.

The operation at the Mi Tres Torres Clinic to repair his left hand and wrist lasted less than two hours and was performed by Doctor Jordi Font Segura and Doctor Enric Domínguez, of the Hand and Elbow Unit of iMove.

"We undertook surgery which consisted of the osteosynthesis on the fifth finger of the left hand, where a plate was placed," explained Dr. Font.

"Tom will stay in for 24 hours for post-surgery observation and medical treatment; and during the next week a new check-up will be performed."

"Also with a scan we have confirmed that Tom had a fissure in the fourth finger of the left hand and in the left wrist. The recovery period depends on the rider and in the best case scenario he can return to competition soon."

Sykes himself stated: "I have had an operation and the doctor seems to be happy with how it went. Obviously it was a nasty break and basically snapped the little finger clean in half, so it was more than a dislocation and he found a couple of other things in the hand as well – a crack in the finger next to it and a crack on the radius on the wrist."

"I have had that injury before and raced with it four days later in Australia, so I have been able to race with a broken wrist before. We will see what happens from now on, and see how the fingers get on in the next few days."

Race 2 at the Portimao’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve saw Jonathan Rea complete a perfect weekend, with a victory by almost six seconds over second-placed Michael van der Mark . Marco Melandri rounded out the podium behind the leading pair.

In the absence of the injured Tom Sykes and with Chaz Davies crashing out with three laps to go in Race 2 it was another significant victory for Rea as he edges closer and closer to a third successive WorldSBK title.

The weekend could not have gone better for Rea as he won both races, secured pole position on Saturday and wrapped up the 2017 Pirelli Best Lap Award title. He now leads the general standings by 120 points over his teammate Sykes and could secure the 2017 WorldSBK title at Magny-Cours in two weeks time.

Van der Mark was delighted with his first podium with Yamaha after the Dutchman beat Melandri to the finish line by 3.367s. Just off the podium was Eugene Laverty, whilst Jordi Torres also featured in the top five.

Lorenzo Savadori, Leandro Mercado, Anthony West, Ayrton Badovini and Takumi Takahashi completed the top ten.

There was a big crash for Alex Lowes midrace at turn 13, with Xavi Fores also going down shortly afterwards at turn 3. Fores picked his machine up to finish 13th.

After an exciting Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round the WorldSBK riders will next be in action at the Pirelli French Round in two weeks’ time, over the 29^th September to 1^st October weekend.