Rea cruises to WorldSBK Portimao win as Redding struggles

2020 WorldSBK Portimao – Race Results (2)

Jonathan Rea has recovered ground in the WorldSBK Championship title fight with a crushing display of dominant riding in the first race of the weekend in Portimao, while Scott Redding could only manage seventh.

Starting from pole position, the Ulsterman got the holeshot into the turn one funnel before quickly establishing his advantage over Toprak Razgatlioglu, who had no answer to his pace out front.

An easy run for the five-time WorldSBK Champion, Rea brought it home to win by more than five seconds, with Razgatlioglu enjoying a similarly quiet afternoon behind him in second position for Yamaha.

By contrast, it was a frantic race behind for those in the fight for third with Loris Baz initially holding down the position, albeit clinging on as the pack backed up behind with the Frenchman struggling for grip.

Initially it was a fast-progressing Scott Redding that looked set to secure the final podium spot as he clawed his way up the order from a starting position of eighth.

However, just as he’d broken through, the Ducati rider couldn’t maintain the pace as Michael van der Mark – himself recovering from a wide moment that dropped him to seventh – powered past with eight laps remaining before accelerating home to third position.

Similarly, Alex Lowes came on stronger in the latter stages after suffering for his poor start off the front row, the Kawasaki rider eventually getting back into fourth place.

Redding – seemingly struggling with his tyres towards the end of the race – found himself fighting a rear guard action in the concluding laps but after rebuffing the pressure of fellow Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi for two laps, a deep moment into turn one allowed both the Italian and a resurgent Baz through.

As such, Rinaldi completed another strong display in fifth aboard the GoEleven machine, ahead of Baz and a disgruntled Redding, who in turn only just held off BMW’s Tom Sykes for seventh.

Alvaro Bautista was a distant ninth on the Honda, a full 14secs off Rea at the front, while Eugene Laverty completed the top ten.

Chaz Davies endured an afternoon to forget, the Welshman making scant progress from his 14th place grid slot to claim 11th, with Leon Haslam, Xavi Fores, Garrett Gerloff and Federico Caricasulo completing the points’ paying positions.