Fifth for Bautista in race 2 at Portimão, Leon crashes out of fifth place to finish thirteenth

Team HRC has concluded round 3 of the Superbike World Championship at the Portimão circuit in Portugal with a top five finish with Alvaro Bautista in the weekend’s third and final race. 

The 10-lap Superpole race got underway at 11am. Tenth off the line, Haslam immediately moved up into eighth. Able to maintain a consistent pace throughout the short sprint, the Brit retained eighth for almost the entire race, dropping down just one position on the final lap to cross the line ninth. Bautista was lying thirteenth through the opening laps but soon made up ground to move up into eleventh, a position he then held all the way to the finish line. 

Lining up for race 2 later in the afternoon, the HRC riders started from eighth (Haslam) and eleventh (Bautista). Leon made an excellent start, moving quickly into sixth position. Progressing to fifth place on lap seven, the Brit unfortunately suffered a crash on lap eleven as he headed into turn 5. Unhurt and able to get straight back on his bike, Haslam re-joined the race in thirteenth position, battling to finish the race inside the points zone and ultimately crossing the line in thirteenth place to score three precious championship points.

Alvaro was lying tenth on lap two but was able to set a consistent pace and to gain good ground through the subsequent laps, to position seventh by lap eight. The Spaniard progressively moved up into fifth position and, in the final stages, pushed hard to reach Davies immediately ahead of him but unfortunately the gap that had opened up prevented him from catching the Welshman, Bautista thus crossing the line fifth to score his best result of the season so far.

Three rounds into the championship and Bautista lies seventh in the overall standings with 55 points, Haslam positions eleventh with 36 points.