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Rea Third And Lowes Fifth At Portimao
The Kawasaki Racing Team’s regular 2023 line-up of Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes came back together in Portugal with instant results both before and after the first 20-lap race of the weekend. Rea was finally third after some dramatic early laps, while Lowes ended up fifth after a long and successful battle for the first off-podium places.
At a warm and very windy Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal the last day of September started out in a strong fashion for both KRT riders, with each launching from a front row starting position.
In Tissot Superpole qualifying Jonathan Rea scored his 43rd career pole position, drawing himself level on the all-time statistics with second placed rider Troy Corser. With Lowes second on the grid it was an all-round strong performance from both sides of the KRT pitbox. Rea was just 0.010 seconds from equalling his existing track best record with his Superpole time of 1’39.620 today.
At the start of Race One Rea unavoidably tagged the rear tyre of Alvaro Bautista, the eventual winner, and was pushed wide. Jonathan lost places and dropped to sixth as he rejoined the leading group and got back into the podium battle.
A spectacular early few laps saw six riders fighting inside the leading group, with Rea eventually in third position with half race distance to go. He would remain there until the end of the race to claim his 17th rostrum of the year.
Lowes went from his long-time fourth position to fifth and then sixth, before he made up ground at the end and reclaimed fifth place. This was Alex’s comeback race after suffering a knee injury that required surgery just a few weeks ago.
With one more day of action at Portimao still to come for the WorldSBK riders, they will face a ten-lap Tissot Superpole race on Sunday, followed by a second 20-lap Race Two.
