Superbikes | Portimao round, Tissot-Superpole: Jonathan Rea scores a record five

It was an incredible Tissot Superpole that just ended at the Algarve International Circuit in Portugal: Jonathan Rea leads a group of 12 riders within just one second of separation.

The Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK Champion scored the 21st pole position of his career and the fifth this season, setting a new track record of 1'40"372.

The session opened with Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) in the lead who recorded the fastest lap of his weekend and thus made up for the crash he suffered during the morning's FP3.

With less than eight minutes to go, however, Rea started to push and took the lead of the standings, albeit with times quite far from the record set by Laverty in last season's Superpole.

Loris Baz (Ten Kate Racing – Yamaha) was the first rider to crash during the session at turn 11 but had previously had time to take provisional pole position.
Chaz Davies (ARUBA.IT Racing – Team) made a notable improvement to move up to third while Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was fifth followed by Eugene Laverty (Team Goeleven) with seven minutes to go.

The final two minutes were fiery during which Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) set the new track record but shortly after Jonathan Rea beat his former teammate's time to win the start from the first spot on the grid. Rea will open the front row ahead of Race 1, while Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) will close the line, thus becoming the first German to start from the front row in Portimao and it is his third start of the season from the front row .

Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished in fourth place and managed to improve by ten positions from the 14th fastest time, placing himself ahead of Bautista. Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) is fifth while the Ducati Spaniard missed out on the top 5 in the Tissot Superpole having to settle for sixth position, placing the first Ducati on the grid.

Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) opens the third row and it is his second best qualifying position of the season.
The weekend didn't start in the best way for Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) who will start from eighth place while Markus Reiterberger set the ninth fastest time.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) finishes the top 10 in a session during which he was unable to be a protagonist.

Some of the big names are outside the top ten such as the winner of Race 2 at Laguna Seca, Chaz Davies, who has not improved his parameters and will start from 12th place ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu, 13th.
Eugene Laverty, poleman in 2018, recorded the 14th time while Loris Baz crashed and then set the 15th time.
The best Honda rider is Takumi Takahashi (Moriwaki Althea Honda Team), 17th, 2 seconds behind Rea.

Below are the top six qualifiers:

1.) Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1'41.372
2.) Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.111
3.) Sandro Cortese (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) +0.303
4.) Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.625
5.) Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.672
6.) Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) +0.726