The conditions for this afternoon’s second WorldSBK race at Portimao were almost perfect as the earlier rain had disappeared meaning a full 20 lap encounter on a dry circuit, won in the end by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team), the 10th win of 2015 for the championship leader by 5.416s.
Rea’s double win moves him into 3rd overall in terms of most consecutive podium finishes (15), ahead of Carl Fogarty who has 13.
As in the first encounter, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) initially led before being passed by team mate Jonathan Rea and Davide Giugliano (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team), the trio pulling clear of the pack as their pace at the front increased.
As the race continued Rea began to stretch a lead, leaving Sykes and Giugliano to fight for 2nd until the former champion’s ZX10R suffered what looked like a technical problem. The former champion would eventually finish 8th.
Leon Haslam (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) took full advantage of the situation to take 3rd, his first podium since Aragon race 2.
Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team) finished 4th to score more solid points ahead of the Pata Honda pairing of Michael van der Mark who got the better of reigning champion Sylvain Guintoli on the final lap who rounded out the top 6.
Jordi Torres (Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils) scored 9 points with his 7th place finish ahead of Sykes, Leandro Mercado who was in the top ten once again on his Barni Ducati (9th) and Matteo Baiocco (Althea Racing).
11th to 15th positions were taken by Roman Ramos (Team GO Eleven), Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia), Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki), Christophe Ponsson (Team Pedercini) and Nico Terol (Althea Racing).
The next round of the championship takes place at Misano in a fortnight.
