Jonathan Rea has completed a Friday free practice clean-sweep at Portimao, while tꦫitle rival Toprak Razgatli🌱oglu finished P4 for the second consecutive session. 

Alex Lowes was the early pace ♏setter from team-mate Rea before Razgatlioglu took over top spot with a 1:42.151s - half a tenth ahead of Lowes.

The championship leader’s spell at the top was short-lived though, as a quick final sector from Lowes pu💃t him back atop the leaderboard. 

The top four of Lowes, Razgatlioglu, Rea and Leon Haslam all pitted with just under 12 minutes gone, ꦇwhile the top Ducati of Michael ꦑRinaldi continued to circulate. 

The Italian was often quickest through sec❀tor one before lo♔sing that time in two and four. 

With Haslam in fourth𓆉, team-mate Alvaro Bautista added to Honda’s impressive opening day perfor♑mance by going sixth - a couple of tenths away from Lowes. 

Rea then went quickest with a first sub 1m 42s lap of the afternoon session. The six-time world champion looked set to go even quicker on his next lap before choosing 🦋to head down pit lane. 

Wh💎ile Rea looked fast in both sessions and has thoroughly dominated Portimao in recent years, there’s no doubt pressure will come from Razgatlioglu this weeke🃏nd. 

The Yamaha rider was able to match Rea at different times in both practices, includinꦕg midway through FP2 when track temperatures were at theiꦬr hottest. The Turkish rider’s best time put him just +0.022s behind Rea. 

As Razgatlioglu’s second stint went on, the 24 year-old continued to produce lap times that would have been good ♏enoug🦹h for second, which could be vital come Saturday and Sunday’s races as Razgatlioglu has often favoured the softer Pirelli compound this year. 

With 15 minutes remaining, Lowes and Ha♏slam set impressive laps to go 1-2. Rea then regained top spot by just -0.019s a few minutes later, before another late effort saw him improve by nearly two tenths.

There were no more ch🧸anges in💞side the top four as Rea ended the day quickest from Lowes, Haslam and Razgatlioglu. 

Free Practice One

12 time race winner at Pဣortimao, Jonathan Rea, finishes the opening World Superbike practice fastest at the Algarve International Circuit. Toprak Razgatlioglu P4 after losing his and the session's quickest lap due to setting it under yellow flags. 

After completing just three laps at the beginning of FP1, Rea immediately returned to pit lane, while championship leader Razgatlioglu posted the first sub 1m 42s lap to go quickest from Rea. Razgatlioglu soon fol🐼lowed the Kawasaki rider in heading back to his garage.

Loris Baz, who is once again replacing the injured Chaz Davies went second quickest early on ꧟as he continues to impress on his Wor🐎ldSBK return. 

Scott Redding the🍷n made it two Ducati’s 🍒inside the top three as he split Razgatlioglu and Baz.

With 20 minutes gone, Rea improved to go fastest overall - four t💯enths better than Razgatlioglu🐼, while team-mate Alex Lowes went P2 - two tenths back. 

Samuele Cavalieri became the first rider to crash, however, the Italian was able to quickly remount his Barni Racing Ducati machine. Leon Haslam then went down just a few minutes later aꩲt turn eight which completely destroyed his CBR1000RR-R.

Razgatlioglu regained top spot from Rea by just half a tenth with 19 minutes to go, but the Yamaha rider then lost that time due keeping up his speed at turn eight when yellow flags were being waved- meaning Rea ꦗwent back to P1 and Razgatlioglu P3. 

Eugene Laverty became the second rider to fall at turn eight inꦇ what was a similar crash to Hasla🦩m. 

Garrett Gerloff moved into second spot late on after setting an identical lap time on back-to-back laps - just +0.009s off of Rea, befo༒re the Kawasaki man improved by a slender margin of -0.012s. Like Razgatlioglu, Gerloff lost his best time but was able to improve again and ultimately keep P2.