2024-01-29 17:42:43
The Portimao Circuit has hosted an intense day of private training that has had the presence of the majority of Superbike teams, some Supersport structures and in which they have also participated several MotoGP riders at the handlebars of their private motorcycles, men like Pecco Bagnaia, Franco Morbidelli, Luca Marini, or the brothers Álex and Marc Márquez, without forgetting the presence on the track of the nine-time world champion, Valentino Rossi.
News about the WorldSBK category, Nicolò Bulega has once again been the fastest in the south of Portugal; If a few days ago Álvaro Bautista’s new teammate finished at the head of the Jerez tests and below the record of the Andalusian track, today Bulega has once again been the master and lord of the timing table and has closed the door of his box with a time of 1:39.913, being the only driver who has broken the 1.40 barrier throughout Monday. Four tenths have separated the Aruba.it Racing rookie from the Portimao absolute record that Jonathan Rea has held for two years (1’39.610).
Very close to Bulega, less than a tenth, he finished Toprak Razgatlioglu; The new rider of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad Team continues to demonstrate his meteoric adaptation to the M 1000 RR, and after completing a total of 63 laps today, the Turk was 94 thousandths behind Bulega, followed by his replacement on the PATA Crescent Yamaha, Jonathan Rea (3rd +0.148), another rider who also already has his new superbike in hand, the YZF-R1.
Good Monday also for another driver who didn’t do anything else in the last test in Jerez, Remy Gardner. Today the Australian posted the fourth best time of the day (4th +0.355), ahead of the official Yamaha of Andrea Locatelli (5º +0.357), the Ducati Panigale V4 R de Sam Lowes (6º +0.550), at BMW de Michael Van der Mark (7th +0.723) and the current Superbike champion, Alvaro Bautistafinally eighth, just under eight tenths behind his teammate Bulega.
As for the army of MotoGP riders present at this test, The fastest was the current champion, Pecco Bagnaia. The one from Turin took to the track with a production Ducati Panigale V4 S, and it was not until the final part of the day, on his 73rd lap, when Pecco pushed hard until he clocked a 1:43.090, that is, 3.1 seconds behind Nicolò Bulega’s official Ducati Superbikes.
— BoxOfficialVR46 (@BoxOfficialVR46) January 29, 2024
Another very fast rider on his street bike has been Luca Marini. The new member of the Repsol Honda Team seems to be very comfortable on his new CBR 1000 RR-R Fireblade, and he has demonstrated this by being the second best MotoGP rider of the day, 3.4 seconds behind Nicolò Bulega’s Superbike, followed by Marco Bezzecchi (+3.516) y Enea Bastianini (+3,709), both with Panigale V4 S.
In addition to active riders, today a living MotoGP legend has joined this one from Portimao, Valentino Rossi. The one from Tavullia has been training with his Yamaha R1 GYTR VR46 Tribute – the same one that the Iwata factory gave him at the end of 2021 – for pure fun, doing a total of 50 laps and finishing 4.7 seconds behind the best record set by Nicolò Bulega. With his 1:44.703 today, Rossi was 1.7 seconds slower than Pecco Bagnaia in his Panigale V4 S.
Another of the great focuses of attention this Monday has been the presence of Álex and Marc Márquez on the Portimao track; For #93 it was his first contact with this 215 hp motorcycle. and electronics derived from the Desmosedici of MotoGP, sporting on its machine the same decoration that just a few days ago we saw on the Gresini Racing GP23 that it will wear this year.
Unfortunately, The Márquez brothers have chosen not to mount the circuit transponder and they have not revealed the times they have set on their Italian machines, so it is impossible to know their speed compared to the rest of the MotoGP members who have sneaked into Superbike training today.
Tomorrow, Tuesday, Portimao will host another eight hours of testing in Spanish time from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Some drivers like Luca Marini will not be present, since the Italian will travel to Malaysia to participate in the MotoGP Shakedown that will be hosted by the Sepang Circuit from February 1 to 3, where he will join his new teammate, Joan Mir.
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Portimao Superbikes test times Monday
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