The second catastrophe for the favourite of the Portugal weekend on Sunday morning – a Jonathan Rea, physically and mentally battered by the fall the day before, and his Kawasaki ZX-10RR in the unexpected crash on the first lap.

Rea out with 2nd fall in the title fight – historic victory for van der Mark

On Sunday morning, the face of Jonathan Rea, who had fallen badly the day before, should have brightened significantly when he looked out the window after getting up. It was his first crash in 27 races at Portimão. Despite severe bruises and a scrape on his forearm, the world suddenly looked completely different for the Northern Irishman before the warm-up. What was often forecast and mostly turned out differently happened this time in the Algarve. The pouring rain shaped the warm-up training at the Autodromo do Algarve automatically meant that these are the conditions under which Toprak Razgatlioglu has almost always stumbled so far. The world championship leader is anything but a gifted rain artist, and this was also evident in his time in the warm-up, when he lost over 2 seconds to the best time of “Magic” Michael van der Mark. The Kawasaki rider, who was still ailing after his crash on Saturday, feels like a fish in water when it is wet. Of course, he took it easy in the morning, but still only lost a second on the fastest. So the starting position was surprisingly completely different from if it had stayed dry for the Superpole Race.

The sun came out shortly before the start, but the track was still wet, and so everything looked ideal for Rain King Johnny Rea – but it turned out differently than he and his team had hoped before.

The sprint race over only 10 laps with the sun emerging
For the winner of the first run, the fact that only half points are awarded in the Superpole Race was certainly reassuring before the start. This made it clear that Razgatlioglu could not lose the championship lead even if he did not see the chequered flag. Much more important for Toprak was the fact that before the start, the sun showed up for the first time that day, and it gradually dried off. But you definitely saw a lot of spray during the warm-up lap, and so the run started as a rain race. Unsurprisingly, Rea passed Razgatlioglu in Turn five, while Rinaldi was already lying in the gravel after a crash. But only a few corners later, the reigning world champion was on the ground for the second time this weekend. With the second fall of the weekend, Johnny Rea’s title defence has finally moved a long way off.

Drama for Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) in his hunt for a podium place – the Englishman fell again shortly afterwards and thus missed his first podium since 2019, after he had also barely made it in Aragon 2 last year.

Toprak loses place by place – van der Mark with his own race to historic victory
While Michael van der Mark went lonely at the top at half-time after catching Redding, Raztaglioglu was only seventh. After the leading Dutchman, Loris Baz, Leon Haslam, Andrea Locatelli and Alvaro Bautista had already passed the Turk. The fast man from Gouda was meanwhile on the way to clinching the first triumph for BMW, which the team of the German brand has celebrated since their factory return for the 2019 season. Scott Redding took second place ahead of Loris Baz with another podium this weekend. Behind Locatelli in front of Bautista, Razgatlioglu only in sixth, Bassani and Gerloff. Eugene Laverty as replacement for Tom Sykes, who had been injured since Barcelona, ​​scored the last point to be awarded for BMW in ninth place in the Superpole Race, while his brand colleague Jonas Folger missed this in his penultimate race as feared. After the desperate results of this season, his team voluntarily renounced the two overseas races in Argentina and Indonesia. The former MotoGP star from Bavaria will therefore contest his possibly last WorldSBK race of his career on Sunday afternoon.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi in his crash in Turn 7 – the Italian had landed in the gravel shortly before the reigning world champion and thus missed another top result at the Autodromo do Algarve after finishing 4th the day before.

The Superpole Rennen of Portimão in numbers

The Interviews of the Top 3 after the race
After his second podium, Loris Baz emphasized that he felt very good in the wet. Once again he was able to state that he could hardly believe it, now standing for the second time as Chaz Davies substitute on this time as usual only symbolic pedestal. The Frenchman thanked the GoEleven team for an excellently groomed Ducati and is of course looking forward to the second race. Being able to stand in the front row is an additional reward for the fast man from Sallanches (southeast of Geneva in the French Alps) when it comes to the final race in Portugal and Europe. Scott Redding stated that he did not want to fall and that he had switched on a kind of survival mode. Of course, he didn’t want to risk stopping Van der Mark, who had nothing to lose. After finishing third in a row, he is back on the front row and is looking forward to the full distance race in the afternoon. Michael van der Mark won a race for the first time since Barcelona 2020. He spoke of very difficult conditions and a perfectly groomed bike thanked his team. Of course, they are not ready to repeat this success in the dry, but the win still gives his team a lot of motivation.

The symbolic and surprising podium after the Superpole sprint race with from left Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati, P2), winner Michael van der Mark (BMW) and third-placed Lorist Baz as Chaz Davies replacement for GoEleven Ducati.

The Autodromo do Algarve

The current World Championship stand in WorldSBK

Despite only four points from the sprint race, Razgatlioglu was able to extend his lead over his closest pursuer, who was eliminated with his second crash, a little. Redding is missing on Jonathan Rea as second in the World Cup with 25 exactly as many points as there are to get for a win. The chances are good, but it is not to be hoped that the most mentioned favourite for the Portugal round will suffer a third fall in the afternoon. After his first win for BMW in the interim standings, Van der Mark has now overtaken Alex Lowes and is now sixth in the World Championship. After only four races this season, Loris Baz has risen in leaps and bounds in the table. As Davies’ replacement, the Frenchman is now on P17 on the second WSBK weekend and could improve by three positions to 14th with a good result in the afternoon.

P, Rider, Points, Bike
1. TOPRAK RAZGATLIOGLU 478 YAMAHA
2. JONATHAN REA 429 KAWASAKI
3. SCOTT REDDING 404 DUCATI
4. MICHAEL RUBEN RINALDI 240 DUCATI
5. ANDREA LOCATELLI 233 YAMAHA
6. MICHAEL VAN DER MARK 201 BMW
7. ALEX LOWES 199 KAWASAKI
8. GARRETT GERLOFF 182 YAMAHA
9. ALVARO BAUTISTA 174 HONDA
10. TOM SYKES 167 BMW
11. AXEL BASSANI 162 DUCATI
12. CHAZ DAVIES 120 DUCATI
13. LEON HASLAM 115 HONDA
14. KOHTA NOZANE 48 YAMAHA
15. LUCAS MAHIAS 44 KAWASAKI
16. TITO RABAT 41 KAWASAKI
17. LORIS BAZ 40 DUCATI
18. EUGENE LAVERTY 31 BMW
19. CHRISTOPHE PONSSON 29 YAMAHA
20. ISAAC VINALES 28 KAWASAKI
21. JONAS FOLGER 20 BMW
22. LEANDRO MERCADO 20 HONDA
23. SAMUELE CAVALIERI 10 DUCATI
24. MARVIN FRITZ 6 YAMAHA
25. LORIS CRESSON 3 KAWASAKI
26. ANDREA MANTOVANI 2 KAWASAKI
27. LUKE MOSSEY 2 KAWASAKI

Jonathan Rea on the ground in turn 13 – after his violent crash the day before, the reigning Superpole Race world champion fell again and effectively lost the chance to defend his title on his own.

WorldSBK Portimao schedule

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