A very satisfied Jonathan Rea after the races at Motorland Aragon – that it wasn’t enough for three victories in a row was due to the wrong choice of tires in the last race. After he was able to prevent a fall after a mistake by Garrett Gerloff with a remarkable motocross insert, he was more than happy with P2 in the end.

The voices of the KRT Kawasaki riders before the Estoril Round

With not the best possible result, but at least the third-best possible, Jonathan travelled with his team towards the Portuguese capital. But this was not due to his performance, but to the fact that he won twice in a row and once “only” came second. The latter only for the reason that two drivers had chosen the right tires and one of them was in front of him. Actually, this would be the second-best possible result. But since the introduction of the Superpole Race with half points, the race victory counts there in the statistics, but not with regard to the yield, as far as World Championship counters are concerned. Nevertheless, it was the first year since 2017 that the Northern Irishman won the season opener with Aragon. Below is his statement before the second round.

Jonathan Rea – World Championship Leader after Round 1 in Aragon: “I really enjoyed Estoril last year and I also had a lot of fond memories of how I won the championship there. But to be honest, I was pretty average. I practically missed FP1 and that always gave me the feeling that I was playing catch-up and that we were missing out on the weekend. And then I also had a slight crash in Superpole. We will therefore adopt a new way of thinking, and I feel really comfortable with the new Ninja ZX-10RR. In Motorland last weekend we had three different track conditions, and we were competitive in all of them. I am optimistic because we have been working on some weaker aspects and characteristics of Estoril, namely turning, braking and changing direction. I think the benefits will show when we go there soon. “

The two Kawasaki aces Rea and Lowes in pursuit of Michael van der Mark – an unexpected picture at the season opener in Aragon, which was later corrected and in the end the Greens had two double victories and a double podium to celebrate.

Alex Lowes – 2nd place in the World Championship after Aragon: “We have waited so long for the first race weekend, and now we have two races in a row. The Circuito do Estoril is now a course that last year” (the editorial team: After a long break since In 1993, when Alex was only 3 years old, he went back to this track for the first time) “was new to the calendar. I’m looking forward to it again. This is a completely different circuit than Motorland Aragon, but when we drove there last year, it was great. It’s a rather small circuit with a lot of character. Estoril is definitely not an easy track, but I’m looking forward to getting started. The good thing is that I understand the bike a lot better now. It makes it a lot easier for me as I can adapt and manage the weekend better than last time. ”(the editorial: A 6th place on Saturday was followed by two falls for Alex on Sunday and Rea, with only 20 points, had as little return as in a very long time not m honest. Strictly since Qatar on October 18, 2015).

Hustle and bustle before the start on Sunday in Motorland Aragon on May 23, 2021, because the tires were decisive for victory or just a place behind it when it was wet for the first time ever when the WorldSBK took to the track here. On Saturday, Rea had won over Lowes.

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

>Estoril preview: see separate report on this page (coming soon).

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