Rea resets course for sixth WorldSBK title in ‘perfect’ Portimao trio

Jonathan Rea has described his timely triple sweep of victories in round three of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship at Portimao as ‘perfect’ after ascending to the head of the standings for the first time this year.

The Ulsterman arrived in Portugal on the back of an uncustomary lacklustre weekend in Jerez, even if one win, a second and sixth would be considered a positive return for almost any other rider on the grid.

However, after hinting at his and the Kawasaki ZX-10RR’s superiority over a single lap with a dominant showing in Superpole, Rea was untouchable in all three races to win by more five seconds on each occasion.

His third career treble brace since WorldSBK introduced the new extended race weekend format in 2019, Rea’s efforts have lifted him to the summit of the championship standings, leapfrogging Scott Redding to eke out a four-point advantage over his countryman.

“That was a perfect weekend,” he said. “The fastest laps, pole position and three race wins. I do not think it was the result, but it was the way that we made the result this weekend.

“I could really enjoy the bike. It is strange, because sometimes fighting for a sixth place, like we did in Jerez last time, feels like I was riding 100%., giving everything to finish sixth.

“This weekend I could do whatever I wanted and kept increasing the gap at the front. It is an incredible feeling as a rider. I knew Portimao was going to be a good track, and I was talking myself into a good result, but we did not come here in the winter tests so I knew it could also be a difficult weekend. I did not start well on Friday in FP1, but we were able to just work calmly together and understand the bike.”