REA FOURTH AFTER FIRST DAY

Jonathan Rea was fourth on the WorldSBK timesheets after the first two Free Practice sessions at Portimao today.

The Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal was drenched in late summer sun for the first two WorldSBK free practice sessions at the penultimate round of the 2023 season. Rea started the weekend positively and ended up inside the top four, despite spending most of his time working on race tyre options and race set-up.

Rea will take to the track again tomorrow morning at 09:00 for a 30 minute Free Practice session. That will followed by Tissot-Superpole qualifying and then a 20-lap Race One. Sunday, October 1 will feature a ten-lap Superpole race and then the final 20-lap WorldSBK Race Two.

Jonathan Rea said: “I had a positive day and the team made a really good plan to understand and work through the tyre options for tomorrow. Along with these tyre tests we were able to fine tune the set-up the set up on our Ninja ZX-10RR. I enjoyed riding today in Portugal, I always enjoy the track and it was good to see a lot of people here. We had a bit of a breakthrough with the front tyre and I felt stronger with it, especially at the end of the long runs. I think we have understood an area where we can improve in the last part of the races. That was positive, and I want to thank all of the team. We had hot conditions out there and everyone was working really hard. We have a big job to do tomorrow - try to qualify well and then of course the first of the long races will start in the afternoon. We will try to prepare in the best way possible.”