Jonathan Rea reacts as technical glitch scuppers Portuguese WSBK round

Jonathan Rea ended the Portuguese World Superbike weekend having suffered a technical glitch in Race 1, suffering for pace in the Superpole Race, but also having come through to sixth in Race 2.

It meant that Rea ended the weekend with mixed feelings about the Portuguese round.

“It’s been a positive weekend in some ways,” Rea said, “as we improved my feeling with the R1 a lot.

“But Portimao has highlighted where we need to improve. Yesterday in Race 1 I had a good rhythm and pace until we had the technical issue, and today in the Superpole race I got a good start but fighting in the group proved difficult when everyone had grip.

“That compromised our start position for Race 2, I had to start P11. I made a good start, but I got involved in a few fights.”

The latter part of the race was better for Rea, as he was able to make the most of the Yamaha’s strength on used tyres.

“When I got through I focused on both van der Mark and Petrucci and even though the gap was there, I managed to close them down as one of our strengths with the R1 is pace on used tyres, so I was able to make use of that and stick a strong pass on [van der Mark] on the last lap.”

Rea ended the Portimao weekend feeling like he’d found improvements with his bike, but with the disappointment of having scored results below his expectations.

“I’ve got mixed emotions as it’s the best I’ve felt with the bike from a chassis point of view and was able to use the bike’s strengths much better,” he said.

“All in all, it’s been a confidence inspiring weekend as from a feeling point of view, and with the electronics, I’ve gained more trust to ride the bike more like I should. Credit to Andrew [Pitt, Rea’s crew chief] and the crew as they arrived with a setup which gave me some more direct feedback from the rear of the bike, so hopefully we can take this on to Magny Cours.”