The 2021 Superbike World Championship continues this weekend at the Portuguese track of Estoril, where Team HRC and factory riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam have completed the day’s free practice sessions, concentrating on the setup of the bike.

Two small crashes in the morning session and one in the afternoon, all unexpected and without consequences, prevented Alvaro Bautista from doing better than 13th in FP2 and fifteenth in the combined standings with a best time of 1’38.469, despite the Spanish rider being among those who improved on their performance after the first session. Bautista had been working with his team on a set-up that appeared promising at the previous Aragón round but that needs to be adapted to the Portuguese track to allow him to take full advantage of the CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADE’s speed.

Leon Haslam worked in a similar direction with his technicians and was also able to improve on his best time of the morning by a fraction of a second during the afternoon’s session, despite higher track temperatures. The British rider rounded out FP2 in 12th position (1’38.427), which placed him thirteenth in the combined standings.

Alvaro Bautista 19

Combined P15

“I feel good physically and haven’t hurt myself but the day didn’t go as we expected or wanted. I started the first session fast and strong and felt I could push because my feeling with the bike was quite good. But then I crashed without any real reason; I just lost the front through turn 3 at full lean. The bike wasn’t too damaged, and the team did well to fix it quickly, but unfortunately I then had another crash. At Aragón we made some changes to the set-up that looked promising, and we wanted to try them again in the ideal conditions we had today. In the afternoon we reverted to a more standard set-up, but the session was kind of a repeat of the morning. Good feeling, good speed but I crashed in the first corner of the second lap without warning. At that point, I lost a little confidence and so although we were a bit faster than in session one, I rode a little more carefully. We will now try and understand what happened. We definitely have some ideas for tomorrow and can better understand the bike’s limit. A pity about today though as I felt so strong during the morning. Tomorrow is another day anyway, and we just have to put it all together and better exploit our potential”.

Leon Haslam 91

Combined P13

“It’s been a difficult day and unfortunately it looks like some of the Aragón setup issues have carried over to this round, at least today. On a positive side, we made a few steps towards the end of the second session but we still have work to do, I think. We will analyse the data carefully this evening and see what we can find during tomorrow’s final practice. Hopefully we can improve our feeling and take another step before the Superpole and Race 1”.

WorldSBK 2021
Free Practice Round 02   Portugal

Free Practices Combined Results after FP2

Sunny
Humidity
59%
Track Temp
43°C
Air Temp
22°C
Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 Razgatlioglu Toprak 54 TUR PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'36.920
2 Redding Scott 45 GBR ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'37.334 / 0.414
3 Rea Jonathan 1 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'37.501 / 0.581
4 Lowes Alex 22 GBR Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Kawasaki 1'37.604 / 0.684
5 Rinaldi Michael Ruben 21 ITA ARUBA Racing - Ducati Ducati 1'37.815 / 0.895
6 Gerloff Garrett 31 USA GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'37.826 / 0.906
7 Laverty Eugene 50 IRE RC Squadra Corse BMW 1'37.853 / 0.933
8 Davies Chaz 7 GBR Team GOELEVEN Ducati 1'37.896 / 0.976
9 Folger Jonas 94 GER Bonovo MGM Racing BMW 1'37.941 / 1.021
10 Sykes Tom 66 GBR BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'38.039 / 1.119
11 Locatelli Andrea 55 ITA PATA YAMAHA with BRIXX WorldSBK Yamaha 1'38.254 / 1.334
12 van der Mark Michael 60 NDL BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team BMW 1'38.293 / 1.373
13 Haslam Leon 91 GBR Team HRC Honda 1'38.427 / 1.507
14 Rabat Tito 53 SPA BARNI Racing Team Ducati 1'38.469 / 1.549
15 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA Team HRC Honda 1'38.469 / 1.549
16 Mahias Lucas 44 FRA Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Kawasaki 1'38.483 / 1.563
17 Bassani Alex 47 ITA Motocorsa Racing Ducati 1'38.716 / 1.796
18 Nozane Kohta 3 JPN GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Yamaha 1'39.036 / 2.116
19 Vinales Isaac 32 SPA ORELAC Racing VERDNATURA Kawasaki 1'39.237 / 2.317
20 Ponsson Christophe 23 FRA Alstare Yamaha Yamaha 1'39.723 / 2.803
21 Cavalieri Samuele 76 ITA TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 1'40.878 / 3.958
22 Cresson Loris 84 BEL TPR Team Pedercini Racing Kawasaki 1'41.205 / 4.285
Location Information

Circuito Estoril – Av. Alfredo César Torres 2646 – 901 Alcabideche – Portugal www.circuito-estoril.pt The Circuito Estoril, situated just 30km from the Portuguese capital city of Lisbon, will host the WorldSBK class, along with the FIM Supersport World Championship and the FIM Supersport 300 World Championship from the 16th –… read more.

POLE POSITION Left
LENGHT 4.182 Km
CORNERS 13
RIGHT CORNERS 9
LEFT CORNERS 4

Records

Pole Record 1'35.346 (157,901 Km/h) J. Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 2022)
Race Record 1'36.204 (156,49 Km/h) J. Rea - RC1 (Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 2022)
All Time Record 1'35.346 (157,901 Km/h) J. Rea (Kawasaki ZX-10RR - 2022)
2022 Race 1 Winner A. Bautista (Ducati)
2022 Superpole Race Winner J. Rea (Kawasaki)
2022 Race 2 Winner J. Rea (Kawasaki)