Jonathan Rea gets three more podiums at Donington Park, although victory got away.
During the first day of action at the English circuit of Donington Park, Jonathan Rea once again demonstrated his great pace on his Kawasaki, very soon falling short of the race lap record with a pace of 1'27.016, which he set in the FP2. The British Alex Lowes also started the weekend happy and satisfied with the results obtained.
On Saturday, in Superpole qualifying, Rea set a new lap record (1'26.080), thus securing his second pole position of the season. For his part, Lowes completed a perfect result for the KRT team, achieving second place in Superpole, thanks to his pace of 1'26.353.
The first race of the weekend was a bit more difficult for Jonathan, especially the opening laps. The result of these complications was a drop by the Northern Irish rider to sixth place. However, after fighting hand in hand with the current leader of the championship, Álvaro Bautista, Rea managed to reach the third position. With nine laps to go Bautista fell, leaving Rea with second place from him, although far from first, with no chance of winning. This final result by Rea meant for Kawasaki to reach 500 podiums in WorldSBK.
Lowes battled for podium positions from the start until he was drawn into a battle for the top five. Following Bautista's crash, Lowes found himself in fourth place, but the strong and consistent pace he maintained throughout the race saw him overtake Scott Redding, securing his first podium of the year. Kawasaki thus reached 501 podium finishes at Donington Park.
On Sunday, the Superpole Race went to Toprak Razgatlioglu. Alex Lowes battled for a fourth position, but was eventually taken away by Bautista, and the Briton had to settle for fifth place. None of them could prevent Scott Redding's first podium finish with BMW. Rea once again demonstrated his pace with a second place finish.
During the second race, Rea and Toprak, oblivious to the rest, staged during the first laps one of the most exciting fights so far this season. There came a point where it seemed that Rea was having a little more trouble than the Turk. On his part, Álvaro picked up the pace to prevent Rinaldi from jumping on him, which helped him catch up with Rea. With five laps to go, Bautista overtook Rea at the hairpin and began to go solo. Thus, Jonathan was finally in third place, while Lowes finished sixth.
The sixth round of the season will take place in the Czech Republic in two weeks, from July 29-31.
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