Bittersweet taste for the Kawasaki Racing Team after the excellent start in Portimao

The second to last round of the WorldSBK championship held at the Autódromo Internacional de Algarve in Portugal began with high expectations for KRT as Rea qualified first followed by Lowes in Superpole on Saturday.

With the first place in the Superpole, Rea's 43rd, the Northern Irish rider is second of all time, along with Troy Corser, both behind the 53 obtained by the British and former KRT rider Tom Skyes.

In the first race Rea had problems at the start when he had a contact with Bautista, falling to the sixth position. After this incident Rea began to recover positions and get closer to the leading group to finally get third place.

The performance of Alex Lowes, who rejoined the team after a knee injury, was also commendable, managing to finish Saturday's hot race in fifth position.

Saturday's good performance could not be repeated on Sunday, which was marked by the falls of both Rea and Lowes in the first lap of the Sprint race. Both riders lost control of the bike in turn five, a tight downhill left-hand hairpin.

This fall prevented Lowes from participating in the second race on Sunday as he suffered an impact on his recently operated knee.

On the first lap of the second race, Rea received a penalty when he collided with Xavi Vierge, dropping to 16th position to climb back to tenth position, earning six more points in the championship.

Rea remains third in the overall championship standings and Lowes is ninth.

STATEMENTS:
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team rider): "It was very nice to get another Pole, and also that Alex also got the first row, and it's good for the team... Sunday was a day to forget, I made two big mistakes, the first in the Superpole, this affected me a lot in the second race, since I started from tenth position. I arrived at T3 with Bassani. They pushed me a little and I went off the line when I came back, I did it too fast and although I tried to brake hard I hit Xavi Vierge. I went to apologize after the race because I am very sorry. And also for Scott Redding, who was involved."
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team Rider): “I feel like I'm not in my best shape, maybe because I missed a race at Motorland… so I'm happy to have done the best lap of my life on Saturday, especially after a time off and two operations… Sunday was a disappointing day, obviously. My start in Superpole was not bad, and it is always good to start from the front row. I came out a little better than Jonathan, but then it happened to me in T1. So I stayed behind Jonny, when he fell he caught me by surprise and I went to the ground too. It's a shame because I think he would have had a good chance.