Razgatlioglu wins the Portimao Superpole ahead of Lowes and Petrucci. Bulega and Bautista on the second row with Van der Mark. Seventh Locatelli, eleventh Bassani and only fifteenth Iannone
August 10, 2024
Fifth Superpole of the season (seventeenth in his career) for Toprak Razgatlioglu who this time fails to lower his fastest lap of the track (which remains with Rea by 99 thousandths) but brings his career pole positions to seventeen, and who this evening will start ahead of everyone in the first race of this torrid Portuguese round.
Considering that the race will be held with temperatures much lower than those of the Superpole which was held at 2.45 pm local time, his performance is not very indicative as far as the race is concerned, but the fact remains that the Turkish tightrope walker has once again left all his opponents behind him, starting with Alex Lowes for whom the adjective “surprising” is no longer valid, but who was really good at bringing his Ninja to just one tenth of a second from the M1000RR of number 54 and preceding a fantastic Danilo Petrucci. After finishing in the lead in free practice, the Terni native also confirmed in Superpole that he can be a protagonist this weekend, hoping that his not yet perfect physical condition will not cause him problems in the 20 laps of the race.
The two official Ducatis will start from the second row, with Nicolò Bulega fourth despite suffering from the flu and having also had to miss the first free practice session due to a technical problem. The Ducati rookie preceded Michael Van der Mark and his teammate Alvaro Bautista. In his fastest lap the Dutchman was “towed” by Razgatlioglu, copying his trajectories, while the Spaniard’s sixth place was entirely his own doing.
The two official Yamahas of Andrea Locatelli and Jonathan Rea open the third row, completed by Garrett Gerloff, who is particularly comfortable on the ups and downs of the Portuguese track. Dominique Aegerter is the first on the fourth row, preceding a surprising Tito Rabat and the official Kawasaki of Axel Bassani. Andrea Iannone’s has been a rather difficult weekend so far, confirmed by his fifteenth place in this Superpole. Worse than him is Michael Ruben Rinaldi, only seventeenth.
