Portimao WorldSBK: ‘We need power’ demands ‘demoralised’ Rea

After Jonathan Rea’s amazing pole position performance he was unable to convert it into a race win in the opening WorldSBK contest at Portimao, which is one of his favourite circuits.

Speed is there but even over 14 laps, not 21, tyre life was not there in race one. Nor engine power like Bautista used to pass him twice like he was standing still.

“The pole lap was incredible,” Rea told bikesportnews.com on Saturday at Portimao. “When the bike had grip, I got everything out of the lap. Aside from a little slide in the last corner, it was perfect. Nice to get that. Of course, competing so fast. That battle in the front starting is everything.

“So, I actually got a good start, which I was happy with. First laps were okay. I went with a harder option rear tyre. It’s a different construction. That was always in the plan after a long run yesterday because I knew the last laps it would be potentially a little bit more competitive than the SC0 tyre.

“When the race changed to 14 laps, that changed the strategy a little bit. We weren’t sure to gamble with the zero, that we didn’t have a lot of info with. So we stuck to our guns and raced the harder option. In hindsight, I just missed that little bit of grip, especially in the middle part of the race when the first drop of the tyre came.

“It was like an off-set when the zero (SC0) drops and when the harder one drops. They both drop, but if you’re going faster with zero, it’s less of a drop. I made a couple small mistakes. Toprak just broke the tow a little bit. Then Alvaro was coming with a good pace.

“I couldn’t fight with him because he took so much time out of me in the sector four and the beginning of sector one that I was riding on my limit just to keep the gap there. So,