Rea edges Camier, Lowes as Portimao test concludes

Jonathan Rea has topped the timesheet on both days of the Portimao test for Kawasaki but saw Red Bull Honda’s Leon Camier and Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes close the deficit.

On the final day of European test action for World Superbike and World Supersport before flying to Phillip Island for the 2018 season opener, Rea headed up the times for the majority of the day to back up his top time from Sunday.

Jonathan Rea, World Superbike [Credit: Gold and Goose]
Jonathan Rea, World Superbike [Credit: Gold and Goose]
© Gold and Goose

Jonathan Rea has topped the timesheet on both days of the Portimao test for Kawasaki but saw Red Bull Honda’s Leon Camier and Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes close the deficit.

On the final day of European test action for World Superbike and World Supersport before flying to Phillip Island for the 2018 season opener, Rea headed up the times for the majority of the day to back up his top time from Sunday.

The triple World Superbike champion’s fastest lap of 1m 41.485s was just 0.010s slower than his best effort from the previous day’s action at the Portuguese circuit while he sacrificed some of his time to ride with Toprak Razgatlioglu to give the Turkish star some advice ahead of his World Superbike debut.

Despite not switching to Magneti Marelli electronics as expected due to a delay in parts, Red Bull Honda debutant Camier caught the eye with second on the overall timesheet and within two-tenths of Rea’s best time to demonstrate significant gains being produced by the British rider with the Fireblade CBR1000RR SP2.

Camier edged factory Yamaha’s Lowes into third place on the times by 0.010s with his team-mate Michael van der Mark’s best lap time almost four-tenths of a second further back in fourth.

Having impressed Rea, Razgatlioglu ended the day fifth fastest overall for Puccetti Kawasaki and ahead of factory Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes.

Eugene Laverty continued to lead the Milwaukee Aprilia charge in seventh in front of Aruba.it Racing Ducati pair Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri as MV Agusta’s Jordi Torres rounded out the top ten having pushed out fellow countryman Xavi Fores on the Barni Ducati in the final 30 minutes of track action which had been added on for earlier time lost to red flag stops.

Loris Baz continued to build momentum for Althea BMW in 12th ahead of Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing Ducati Junior Team), PJ Jacobsen (TripleM Honda) and Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda).

In the World Supersport class, Ayrton Badovini narrowly headed the field for MV Agusta from Kenan Sofuoglu (Puccetti Kawasaki) and Niki Tuuli (CIA Landlords Insurance Honda).

The 2018 World Superbike grid will regather at the final official test at Phillip Island on the 19-20 February before the Australian circuit hosts the season opener on the 23-25 February.

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