A damp but sunny Sunday morning Warm Up got underway for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field at the Circuito Estoril in Portugal; despite the wet patches, riders ventured out on slick tyres before setting the lap times. One corner that was particularly wet was Turn 8 on the approach to the chicane, a hot spot for riders running off on their exploratory laps. By the end of the session, it was Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) who was on top going into the final two races of the weekend.

Riders took it cautiously on the opening laps whilst some just stayed in the box all together, not seeing the need to risk a needless early morning spill. Taking fourth in Race 1, Alex Lowes topped the timesheets ahead of Honda’s Xavi Vierge (Team HRC), with Honda’s positive weekend continuing on Sunday morning. After his Race 1 fall on Saturday, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) set the early fast laps and was top of the time sheets going into the final stages of the session before finishing third, just ahead of Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK), hoping to make up for his Race 1 crash. Completing the top five, Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team).

The rest of the runners completed the top ten as only ten riders set lap times. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) hopes that he can bounce back after his Race 1 fall, whilst Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) has high hopes for points in P7. Home-hero and deputee at MIE Racing Honda Team Ivo Lopes was eighth, with Brad Ray (Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) rounding out the top ten. Race 1 podium finisher Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and the #21 of Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) both had outlaps but ran off at Turn 8 in the wet patches before returning to their garages.

Top six after WorldSBK Warm Up, full results here:

1 Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) 1’42.132
2. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) +0.439s
3. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.463s
4. Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.908s
5. Sam Lowes (Elf Marc VDS Racing Team) +1.441s
6. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +1.821s

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