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As the World Superbike Championship makes its return to Portimao, Jonathan Rea ended the opening day on the top of the timesheets ahead of Superpole on Saturday.

The British rider enjoys the challenges the Portuguese circuit welcomes, but getting the set up on his ZX-10RR has proven difficult on the opening day.

However following the test his team underwent earlier in the season, he feels he has been able to work on the set up they found, and with a time of 1.42.621 he was able to sit over half a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Rea is hoping to improve his already impressive pace ahead of Saturday in Portugal: “The circuit challenging as it’s such a unique track, you have to put a lot of effort into riding. It’s such a bumpy and undulating track, you can learn more by understanding the circuit than with set up."

"Our set up isn’t perfect, the bike is so aggressive but I managed to be very consistent. The biggest problem for me is the wind, especially over the last corner."

"We were able to work from the set up we got over the test, which is something quite different to what we’ve had in the previous races; but it seems to be going so far so good."

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Kawasaki Racing Team’s World Champion is Friday’s fastest man in Portugal, ahead of Ducati pair Melandri and Davies

A late hot lap in FP2 on Friday afternoon at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal gave the reigning World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) the top spot on the timesheet, more than half a second clear of his nearest rival.

Speeding around the 4.592km Portimao track on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR with a best lap time of 1'42.621 at the end of the Friday afternoon session Rea outpaced his rivals, with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) the second quickest rider – a 0.586s gap down on the championship leading Northern Irishman.

Melandri did well in FP2 after missing much of the earlier Friday morning session due to a technical fault and the Italian was provisionally top of timesheet with his 1’43.207 lap, before Rea took over in the lead.

Third fastest was Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), just over a tenth of a second behind his colleague Melandri. It was also a good day for Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) who performed well in third in FP1 before finishing the day fourth best overall after FP2.

Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was fifth, courtesy of a best time from FP1, after he was unable to improve in the afternoon.

In good weather conditions at Portimao Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia), Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) and Stefan Bradl (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) were also in the top ten.

On Saturday at the Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round the WorldSBK riders will start their day with FP3 at 9.05am local time, followed by SP1 at 11am and SP2 at 11.25am. Race 1 gets underway at 3pm local time at Portimao on Saturday afternoon.

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Leon Camier had a strong opening day at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, as he finished in the top four with a consistent pace throughout the day.

Despite contesting the wind, the British rider is hoping to continue his pace into Saturday.

Setting the third fastest time in the mornings free practise session, Camier was then able to head out on his Italian machine and continue his strong pace into the afternoon.

Thrilled to be setting a lap time of 1.43.415, the British rider will be heading into Saturday with some optimism but keeping the weather conditions in mind. As he continues to improve the set-up of his bike, he will look to get a faster pace into Superpole and a consistent race result.

Camier was thrilled with his opening pace: “I wasn’t expecting to be as fast as this, after this morning we were P3 and I thought that everyone else was going to make a big step in the afternoon."

"The bike was working well and I had a good feeling from the first few laps here, we’ve made some small improvements but the pace is pretty good. For the race were going to have to find something else here, maybe it’s something with tyres but all in all the bike is working well so we’ll see what happens for the race."

"We have qualifying first so it will be tough but it’s good to be fast. I think the circuit is amazing, I enjoy the lay out, it’s unique and special but as long as the bike is working good I don’t care what track it is."

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As the WorldSBK riders commenced their work at the Portuguese Round on Friday morning it was the World Champion Kawasaki's Jonathan Rea who went fastest in FP1.

The Northern Irishman’s Kawasaki colleague Tom Sykes was just behind him in second, with Leon Camier (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) performing well in third.

Rea’s 1’43.170 lap around the 4.592km track at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve put him 0.346s clear at the top of the timesheet, ahead of his teammate Sykes.

Camier was 0.559s off P1 in third, marginally quicker than fourth best placed rider Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati).

In beautiful clear conditions at Portimao Alex Lowes was 0.825s down on Rea in fifth, making it an all British top five.

Also in the top ten were Eugene Laverty, Michael van der Mark, Xavi Fores, Stefan Bradl and Lorenzo Savadori.

The second practice session for the WorldSBK riders at the Prosecco DOC Portuguese Round commences at 2.30pm local time on Friday afternoon.

 

         

 

 

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