Jonathan Rea takes the championship lead after Toprak's technical problems in the first race to regain second place overall at the end of the second race of the weekend.
The sun was shining and the heat was pressing on the Montmeló circuit when the riders arrived on the track on Friday for the first practice sessions of the weekend. The high temperatures with which the drivers had to run in the afternoon meant that not everyone could improve their best lap times of the morning session. In fact, the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit is particularly demanding on the front tires, although it is also necessary to work on choosing the rear ones, especially when the track temperature rises.
The possibility of rain for Saturday became a reality shortly before the start of the first WorldSBK race at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit, leaving the riders a bit disoriented and without useful information before the race. Jonathan Rea lined up second on the grid, after failing to win the Tissot Superpole for the first time this year, while Lowes was fifth at the starting line.
Rea took the lead already at the end of the first lap, despite a very quick start from Toprak Razgatlioglu, his main rival in the championship. Due to the wet conditions, Rea began to lose traction and was eventually overtaken by Razgatlioglu on lap 12. However, Toprak Razgatlioglu suffered an engine technical problem that prevented him from finishing the race, while Rea continued to fight for fourth place. in the last laps.
Jonathan's 13 points were enough to put him six above Razgatlioglu and return to the championship lead, with the second race remaining on Sunday.
Lowes struggled for maximum points once again, but had no podium rhythm and ultimately took sixth place.
Ideal race conditions welcomed the last day of action at the Montmeló circuit. In the morning, Rea again showed his superiority in the Tissot Superpole race, winning it for the tenth time this season and leaving his biggest rival 0.211 seconds behind. Although this time it was a very short battle, of only five laps, after a red flag incident made the session shrot. It looked like Lowes could get on the podium, but he finally finished fourth.
Already during the second race, another red flag incident caused another race restarted in WorldSBK, this time of 19 laps instead of the 20 initially scheduled.
For Jonathan, it was quite a difficult race, without much option to defend his position on the track after a strong start. He drew on all of his experience to finish sixth.
Lowes, for his part, was unlucky enough to get tangled up with another rider early in the 19-lap restart, falling to the ground and getting hit by his own bike. Following the incident, Alex received a full evaluation of his sore hand and wrist at the hospital.
Now in the fight for the championship, Rea is just one point behind leader Razgatlioglu. Alex is sixth, nine behind the rider in fifth position.
The next test will be held next weekend at the Jerez-Ángel Nieto circuit, between September 24 and 26.
Ana Carrasco did not experience her best weekend in Montmeló either after falling in race 1 when she was hit by another rider and being involved in an incident on Sunday during race two, going to the gravel at turn 2 , which made her lose a lot of time trying to get back on track, having to rejoin from the last position.
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