Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) as the winner of the first race in Portugal ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx, left) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) – the risky tire strategy for the Englishman worked for the second time in a row.

The Saturday of the second WorldSBK round in Estoril

Scott Redding had chosen a risky strategy for the second time after run 2 in Aragon and he decided on the SCX tire before the start, just like Toprak Razgatlioglu. In Motorland, despite light rain, he was the only one with Jonas Folger to start on slicks and this time he risked the full distance for the first time to try a tire developed for the Superpole Race. The Ducati pilot’s calculation worked out and he fended off all attacks by the Turk behind him until he fell back slightly due to waning tires. He stood in the way of the approaching Jonathan Rea several times, but the latter could not find a way past him. So the 6-time world champion has to wait until Sunday for a revenge or until Misano.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx) in front of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Ducati) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) in pursuit of the leader in the first race of Estoril.

The winners and losers from the 1st race on Saturday

With Eugene Laverty and Alex Lowes there were two prominent drivers who ruined their chances of a top ten result with a crash. Not so Jonas Folger, but the German seemed at a loss after the finish as to his miserable result. But if you look at where Laverty and Tom Sykes ended up, he’s in good company as a BMW driver. Only Michael van der Mark showed an impeccable race. But the Dutchman had already ruined an even better result in Superpole that morning with a bad starting position. As last year’s winner, Chaz Davies with P6 could only speak of damage limitation after having been as bad as the Dutchman in qualifying. His successor in the Ducati works team, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, scored 5th place for the second time in 4 races. After a strong start, a similar damage control as its predecessor Davies.

Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW) – the two fought for the honour of “best of the rest” behind Kawasaki, Ducati and Yamaha. After all, the fast Spaniard stayed seated after 3 falls on Friday and saw the chequered flag (© HRC Honda).

Honda and BMW well below expectations
For HRC Honda it was a race to forget, if you compare the results with those at the same site last year. However, Bautista stayed seated and finished in the top ten and Haslam saved himself a few points on P12. The bottom line was 8 points, which is of course far too little for the Honda factory team in view of the results from October 2020. Just like BMW, which only totalled one more meter, although even with 4 drivers instead of HRC only with their 2 at the start. It seems to be true that BMW slouched in preparation when they went out on the track much later than their opponents to test seriously. Now you may be standing with your back to the wall after just two laps, if the hoped-for turnaround does not take place immediately.

Eugene Laverty in front of his BMW brand colleagues Tom Sykes and Michael van der Mark – in the end only the man from Gouda was halfway satisfied with his result (© BMW Motorrad WorldSBK).

Steven Odendaal hat trick in WorldSSP – Öttl strong second

During the interview (for more on this, see our live blog on Saturday), you could see that the German was very disappointed despite his second place. Nevertheless, Philipp Öttl can be very proud of his second place behind Steven Odendaal. The Kawasaki Puccetti driver had the nose in front, for a total of 13 of 18 laps, but in the end the South African was the first to cross the finish line for the third time in a row. Dominique Aegerter must have felt similar to Öttl because on the last lap he turned into the first corner in third place ahead of Jules Cluzel. But the French caught the Swiss out of the slipstream shortly before the finish and so the “Domi-Fighter” had to make do with the ungrateful 4th place. However, his compatriot Randy Krummenacher fared much worse, who only saw the chequered flag on P9 for the second time in a row. Even worse Federico Caricasulo, who was in the top group, when he destroyed his race with a fall, in the end it was enough for 4 points with P12. At the moment it looks like a four-way battle for the first 4 in Saturday’s race in the World Cup. But the season is still young, and only three races have taken place before number four follows on Sunday.

The situation in the WorldSSP World Championship
1. Odendaal 75 points
2. Aegerter 44
3. De Rosa 37
4. Öttl 36
5. Cluzel 32
6. Summer 30
7. Gonzalez 27
8. Bergman 24
9. Bernardi 22
10. Krummenacher 19
11. Caricasulo 14.

The podium with, from left, Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing, P2), winner Steven Odendaal (Bardahl Evan Bros Yamaha) and third-placed Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha).

Saturday in numbers – WorldSBK and WSSP 600 result

WorldSBK Championship stand after 4 races

  1. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki), 73 points.
  2. Scott Redding (Ducati), 65
  3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha), 50
  4. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki), 45
  5. Garrett Gerloff (Yamaha), 36
  6. Michael van der Mark (BMW), 30
  7. Chaz Davies (Ducati), 27
  8. Tom Sykes (BMW), 25
  9. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Ducati), 20
  10. Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha), 19th
  11. Alvaro Bautista (Honda), 16th
  12. Leon Haslam (Honda), 12
    Manufacturer rating
  13. Kawasaki 73 points
  14. Ducati 69
  15. Yamaha 53
  16. BMW 37
  17. Honda 24.

Circuito do Estoril

The Circuito do Estoril offers a similar layout to the Autodromo do Algarve near Portimão, but much less up and down. Curves 1, the very narrow 9 and target curve 13 are particularly tricky here.

The combined schedule of Mugello MotoGP and WorldSBK Estoril

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).