As the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship makes its return to Portimao, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) ended the opening day on the top of the timesheets ahead of Superpole on Saturday.

The British rider enjoys the challenges the Portuguese circuit welcomes, but getting the set up on his ZX-10RR has proven difficult on the opening day. However following the test his team underwent earlier in the season, he feels he has been able to work on the set up they found, and with a time of 1.42.621 he was able to sit over half a second ahead of the rest of the field.

Rea is hoping to improve his already impressive pace ahead of Saturday in Portugal: “The circuit challenging as it’s such a unique track, you have to put a lot of effort into riding. It’s such a bumpy and undulating track, you can learn more by understanding the circuit than with set up. Our set up isn’t perfect, the bike is so aggressive but I managed to be very consistent. The biggest problem for me is the wind, especially over the last corner. We were able to work from the set up we got over the test, which is something quite different to what we’ve had in the previous races; but it seems to be going so far so good.”

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