WorldSBK Estoril | Rea upstages rivals to secure Superpole in Portugal

Jonathan Rea has secured pole position for the opening race of the Estoril WorldSBK Championship round, the Kawasaki man defeating pre-Superpole favourites Ducati and Yamaha around the Portuguese venue.

The six-time WorldSBK Champion came into the short Superpole session seemingly adrift of Scott Redding and Toprak Razgatlioglu, but as he so often does, Rea saved his best until last as the only rider to dip below 1m 36secs.

The performance will help put a rather different experience of qualifying at Estoril when he crashed during the 2020 Superpole session, forcing him to start towards the back of the grid in what would prove to be his coronation race.

It was a similar situation that hampered Redding too, who also crashed in the final Superpole of last year in his attempts to kepe hs fading title hopes alive. Fast forward to now, while Estoril isn’t hosting the title decider this time, the rivalry between Rea and Redding remains fresh, with the Kawasaki man getting the edge on his Ducati counterpart yet again.

Alex Lowes completes the front row of the grid, demoting the Yamahas of Razgatlioglu and American racer Garrett Gerloff to fourth and fifth, with the Superpole specialist Tom Sykes riding well in sixth on the BMW.

Michael Ruben Rinaldi couldn’t match his form from Friday to end up seventh, ahead of a much improved Eugene Laverty and an impressive Lucas Mahias, the French rookie using a Rea-shaped tow to haul his Puccetti Kawasaki into ninth.

Tito Rabat starts his second WorldSBK race from tenth place, though will have no doubt frustrated riders behind him when he ran off as he completed his fastest lap, bringing out yellow flags.

Elsewhere, there was frustration for Chaz Davies, who having spent Friday hampered by technical issues, could only manage 16th on the GoEleven Ducati.

Honda is also in trouble with both Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam well down the order in 12th and 15th respectively.

2021 WorldSBK Estoril | Superpole Qualifying Results