In warm and dry conditions the Superpole qualifying session and then Race One provided the first truly competitive action of the second round for all the WorldSBK riders.

Axel placed 14th after Superpole, which delivered a Race One start from the fifth row of the grid.

Superpole provided a tough outcome for Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) after he crashed early in the session. He was able to make a final lap time that would have seen him inside the top few places, but it was discounted because it was set under yellow flag track conditions. Alex was forced to start Race One from the very back of the grid, in 23rd place.

In the race itself Axel had to control his pace and ride with consistence to keep in contact with a group of riders behind the potential podium places. He ended up gaining one final place at the end of an intense 20-lap contest to secure ninth position and seven championship points on his KB998 Rimini machine; the customer version of which will be available from April 9 in European bimota dealers.

For Alex, the opening race of the Portimao weekend was always going to be a tough challenge but he rose to it in the early laps as he passed rider-after-rider in his attempt to get into the best possible points scoring positions.

At T1, on lap nine, Alex was to fall, having made his way through the field to ninth place at that stage. He was unable to restart and is now going through the data with his team to find set-up improvements for the two forthcoming WorldSBK races on Sunday 30 March.

The competitive action at Portimao for the WorldSBK riders will be completed by a ten-lap Superpole Race and then a final 20-lap Race Two.  

Alex Lowes, stated: “A tough first raceday for us, and quite frustrating. I felt really good on the bike in FP3 this morning, but in Superpole I had a crash. We had changed the front of the bike and I feel better with it, but I am maybe just not understanding it as much. So, I made a mistake in Superpole and the race. I got unlucky in Superpole because I got out on track again and made a lap time that would have taken us into the top five - but then it was ruled out for a yellow flag. We started from the back of the grid and when you do that in WorldSBK nowadays you do not have much chance in the race. I came through quite well, passed 13 guys and I was feeling good. I had just managed to pass Andrea Iannone and I was maybe a little bit deep into T1. I will need to check that. We will have a look at the set-up for tomorrow. My pace was actually quite good today and I was riding quite well but in this game the punishment does not always fit the crime. I did not just want to ride round behind the group and use the starting grid position as an excuse. I was trying hard to recover positions, and obviously too hard. We will try to improve the bike tonight and see what we can do on Sunday.”

Axel Bassani, stated: “Race One was quite difficult as from the beginning I had to control the front tyre. I also went wide in T1, after five or six laps, and lost some positions. From there on I tried to be more consistent, as consistent as possible. The riders in front started to make some mistakes, or to crash, so I started to recover some positions and we finished inside the top ten. This is good but at the same time we have to work really hard because at the moment it is impossible really to attack. We have to wait, so it is not really fun to do it like this. We have to never give up, to try to push and believe.”