In the Tissot Superpole qualifying session, which had also been held in hot track conditions earlier in the day, Lowes would finish second fastest and just 0.1 seconds from the quickest rider Toprak Razgatlioglu. Bassani was 12th fastest in Superpole but just 0.755 seconds from the leading pace.
In the opening race of the Portimao WorldSBK weekend Lowes was in aggressive mood and led for four laps, occasionally jousting for track position with eventual race winner Razgatlioglu. Alex would gradually lose track position to some other riders but rode with a cool head throughout to finish fifth, just over three seconds from a podium result.
From his fourth row starting position Bassani pushed hard from the very beginning to be ninth on the first two laps and finish his race in a very creditable eighth place. He had a lonely ride in the final laps, coming home just over six seconds from the rider in front of him and just over 11 seconds from the race winner.
With the first day of race action complete, the second and final day in Portimao features a ten minute warm-up session, then a ten lap Tissot Superpole race and a final 20-lap Race Two which will complete the action at the seventh round of the championship.
Alex Lowes, stated: “I was happy to get a good start to the first race. We were in between the choice of an SC1 or SC2 front tyre and we chose the SC1. After the good start I was not sure how fast to go, so I was trying to be a bit smooth on the front tyre. When Toprak came past me I felt OK but I was being passed on the straight by some others and it was hard to get a rhythm then. When Michael van der Mark passed me I was struggling to get back past him and lost the gap to the front three guys. It was quite a difficult race but the bike was good, the weekend has been good and Axel made a step compared to the last couple of rounds. He is doing a good job and I think we are both getting a lot from the bike.”
Axel Bassani, stated: “The start was positive for the first race of the weekend and I took some risks to try and recover some positions. The first half of the race was good and the pace was really fast but after the last five or six laps I started to struggle to keep that fast pace. We have to try to understand that now. Race One was not bad, a good result, and we were not so far from the first positions. I think we can continue to improve and try to do an even better job tomorrow.”
Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was an impressive 11th in Superpole and scored two championship points for his final 14th place in Race One. Rabat was under a second per lap behind the overall pace of the winning rider, despite the hot track and ambient conditions.
2024 KRT Rider WorldSBK Statistics
Alex Lowes:
2024: Races: 19, Wins 2, Podiums 7, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 4 (3 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 41 (21 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 1 (0 for Kawasaki)
Axel Bassani:
2024: Races: 19, Wins 0, Podiums 0, Superpoles 0
Career Race Wins: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Podiums: 6 (0 for Kawasaki)
Career Poles: 0 (0 for Kawasaki)
8 x Riders’ Championships (Scott Russell 1993, Tom Sykes 2013, Jonathan Rea 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 & 2020), 1 x EVO Riders’ Championship (David Salom 2014)
6 x Manufacturers’ Championships (Ninja ZX-10R 2015 & 2016, Ninja ZX-10RR 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020)
5 x Teams’ Championships (KRT/Provec Racing 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 & 2019)
Kawasaki FIM Superbike World Championship Statistics
Total Kawasaki Race Wins: 180 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Podiums: 549 – second overall
Total Kawasaki Poles: 108 – second overall
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