With his best result of the season, Jordi Torres (Team Pedercini Racing) had a big reason to smile at Laguna Seca – not that he ever needs one. The ‘Spanish Elvis’ powered into the top five for the most of Race 1 before being pipped in the closing stages by Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team). And not for the first time this season, Torres was top Spaniard, as his fellow countryman Alvaro Bautista (ARUBA.IT Racing – Ducati) crashed from third on Lap 5.

Having started from sixth on the grid and as top Independent, Torres found himself right in the thick of the action on the opening lap, jostling with the likes of Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) and Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). As the race pace upped, Torres was looking strong for a top five result before rear tyre grip dropped away, forcing the Spaniard to make a mistake of which Lowes capitalised on.

Happy about his return to the top six, Torres said: “The weekend has not been bad, because we started yesterday in FP1 and FP2 with some difficulties. But we started to understand the things we need to change and today, the things we changed proved to be good and shows that we went in the correct direction. I did not learn much in the final stages of the race because I have no rear tyre left!”

It is the first time that Torres has finished inside the top six of a WorldSBK race since Race 2 at Imola in 2018, whilst making it the fourth different manufacturer he has achieved this with. Torres also keeps his good form up in the United States, with all but one race (when he suffered a DNF in Race 2 2017) seeing the Spaniard inside the top ten.

Looking ahead to the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race on Sunday, he said: “In the shorter races, everyone goes faster and not just me! So, we can use a softer tyre but also, it will last until the end. I think I need to work more on when the tyre is used and tomorrow, we will change more. Hopefully, one day, I will learn this!”

The charismatic Spaniard lies 12^th in the standings but with his best result of the season, will seek his first back-to-back top six finishes since Race 2 at Buriram and Race 1 at MotorLand Aragon, back in 2017 for BMW.

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