Portimão Practice 2: Bulega, same old story; Rea returns with a bang!

With two all-out laps, Sam Lowes set the Superbike Friday benchmark at Portimao, but don’t be fooled by the timesheets. Nicolò Bulega, like a cat playing with a mouse, patiently worked in race trim, showing a pace that for now is untouchable for everyone, provisional figurehead included.

As the second session got underway, there were no fewer than five Ducati Panigale V4 Rs up front: behind Sam Lowes and Nicolò Bulega nose-to-tail we find the excellent Yari Montella, the Spaniard Iker Lecuona—who fell with the other factory Red—and finally the former world champion Alvaro Bautista. The Ducatis had blown everyone away at Phillip Island, and on a different track like Portimao, nothing has changed.

Bulega holds the edge, but Sam Lowes showed the face of someone who truly believes. He was already fastest in the morning, and it was the same song in FP2: fresh rubber and two laps under 1'40" to crown a lion’s day, despite still being physically below par. In Australia he had a fast high-side and injured his wrist. Yari Montella surprised at the season opener and is confirming himself here too, better than factory rider Iker Lecuona, who still hasn’t found a way to tame the other “factory” Panigale.

“The Best of The Rest” is once again Bimota with Axel Bassani sixth ahead of his teammate Axel Bassani: we might have expected a bit more after swashbuckling tests and a promising morning. Instead, this Friday raises quite a few doubts in the BMW camp. Miguel Oliveira is on home turf here but didn’t go beyond eighth, seven tenths off the top. Danilo Petrucci is even further back. Last year here at Portimao, Toprak Razgatlioglu tamed the Ducati three times: without the Turk, a repeat looks like science fiction. There’s no good news from Yamaha either: for now, no technical breakthrough after the nightmare start in Australia.

Returning to the track with Honda at the very same Portimao venue of his absolute debut back in 2008 is a compelling storyline, but the first day ended in a way Jonathan Rea did not expect. Early in the session the CBR-RR snapped on him, suddenly, at turn ten, a very fast point. The Honda bounced beyond the barriers, while the most successful rider in Superbike rolled through the runoff and got up practically unscathed. At that moment he was fifteenth, 1.2 seconds off the top. “I won’t take any risks,” he had promised on the eve, “I just need to rack up miles and develop the bike.” But this Honda is treacherous: regular rider Jake Dixon broke his wrist in the Australian tests and is still in the garage, replaced by the champion-test rider. Late in the session the Thai Somkiat Chantra also crashed at high speed.

The Lusitanian weekend has just begun, but we’re already at crunch time. Saturday, March 28 features the fourth bout of the season, scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m. Italian time. Bulega is on maximum points after his triple in the Phillip Island opener. In Australia not only was the Ducati man fastest in every session, but no one even came close. Not on the dry, and even less so in race 2 in heavy rain. We’re at the dawn of the Championship, but the feeling that this will be a one-way season is already palpable. We discussed it here: read the analysis.