WorldSBK Portimao FP1: Jonathan Rea back on top in Portugal

Jonathan Rea has opened this weekend in P1 leading the FP1 session at a track he knows well.

Jonathan Rea has opened his weekend in a positive P1 as they come to a track which he has seen the top step of the podium a massive 12 times, he was fast from the get-go and didn’t need much time to get up to speed before he was leading the session, staying as the fastest man until the very end leading Garrett Gerloff in second place who was on a fast lap at the end of the session which would’ve taken away Rea’s P1 spot before a crash from Riu forced Gerloff to pull out of his quick lap.

In third place was Rea’s teammate Alex Lowes only 0.161 seconds behind Rea with Razgatlioglu taking fourth place after losing his fastest lap time from a crasher, the title leader has lots more left in the tank today and it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on this weekend at a track Rea is so strong at. He led Loris Baz who rounded out the top five, Baz has been absolutely superb these past two weekends after coming back from MotoAmerica and is warranting himself a place on the grid for 2022 despite already being signed up for MotoAmerica for 2022, as we know contracts don’t mean too much these days so it’s a possibility.

Scott Redding came home in sixth ahead of Alvaro Bautista and Andrea Locatelli, Locatelli is continuing his super-strong rookie season form but has confirmed he’s getting frustrated with finishing fourth place after racking up 10 fourth-place finishes this year, but he’s been in good company with Rea, Razgatlioglu and Redding ahead of him. Rounding out the top 10 were Michael van der Mark then Axel Bassani on the Ducati.

Full results – 

Featured image – WorldSBK