Jonathan Rea once again completes a triple podium finish at the second to last round of the WorldSBK championship at the international street circuit in Mandalika, Indonesia.
The penultimate round of the 2022 World Superbike Championship season did not get off to the best start for the riders as the recently resurfaced Mandalika track was dirty and dusty from a lack of recent action, which meant that FP1 became a real challenge for everyone. However, by FP2 the grip had already improved considerably, allowing Jonathan Rea to move up to fourth place overall, once again proving both his good pace and his experience.
For his part, Alex Lowes took the opportunity to focus on the bike set-up in both sessions, setting the eleventh fastest lap time, despite failing to post a fastest final lap at the end of FP2.
In Saturday's qualifying session, Rea took second place on the grid and Alex Lowes fourth. The Northern Irishman was able to stay close to Toprak Razgatlioglu for the first few laps but as the race progressed the grip on his rear tire decreased until he was overtaken by Álvaro Bautista. Finally, Rea finished in third position.
Lowes didn't get off to a good start and couldn't help but to go off the track at one point. However, he had the pace and ability to overtake and get back into a solid position. At the end of the race, he finished in ninth place.
On Sunday, Rea posted his best individual result of the weekend with second place in the ten-lap morning SuperPole race, just 0.586 seconds behind race winner Toprak Razgatlioglu.
The last race of the weekend had as main protagonists the leaders of the championship. At the end of the race, Álvaro Bautista, second classified, finally won the title of new world champion in this 2022 season. Congratulations, Álvaro!
Rea, for his part, came close to fighting for the win at one point, but ultimately couldn't get far enough. Nonetheless, he celebrated his 200th podium finish for Kawasaki, registering 242 podiums in total in WorldSBK.
Lowes was seventh in the Superpole race and, in a bid to improve his prospects in Sunday's second race, a small change was made to his bike setup. Ultimately, it didn't go as well as they'd hoped, with Alex finishing in ninth place.
In the overall championship standings, Rea is third overall and Lowes sixth. Now, it only remains to wait for the final round, which will be held next weekend in Phillip Island, Australia.
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