The Superbike World Championship is in Portugal this weekend for another round on the 2023 calendar. And after a very lively Friday, with some surprises, the Superopole was no different.
Jonathan Rea showed a very strong pace, reaching the 1st place of the grid, with a lap that put him only 0.010s from the record of the Algarve circuit in a Superbike, a record that belongs exactly to the six-time world champion. At his side was his team-mate Sam Lowes, who managed to take second place in qualifying, the day after learning who his new team-mate will be in 2024.
Opening the second row was Andrea Locatelli, who despite the 3rd position will be forced from the last place of the grid, after a penalty applied, for not having removed his Yamaha from the track in Aragon, when it began to lose fluids and were shown the respective warnings. Behind him, in 4th place, Toprak Razgatlioglou managed to surpass Alvaro Bautista who went no further than a 5th place.
In sixth, and best Honda, was Iker Lecuona, who saw his teammate qualify only 14th. Garrett Gerloff, who even closed FP1 in first place and FP2 in second, did not go beyond 12th position in Superpole.
With the Kawasaki showing excellent pace and Razgatlioglu in urgent need of points to prevent Bautista from reclaiming the title, the first race of the weekend in the biggest category of the SBK world championship promises to be quite lively and could offer surprises up front, although a three-way fight with Rea is expected once again. Bautista and Toprak fighting for the top spot on the podium.