Strong Superpole and bad luck in Saturday's race for the BMW Motorrad WorldSBK team at Portimão.

Portimão. Saturday at Portimão (POR) was a day of mixed feelings for the #bmwmotorrad #WorldSBK team. After a strong performance in Superpole with second place for #tomsykes (GBR) and ninth for #markusreiterberger (GER), the afternoon's race did not go to plan. Reiterberger crossed the finish line in twelfth place, with Sykes just behind in 13^th position. Portimão is hosting the tenth round of the FIM Superbike World Championship 2019 (WorldSBK).

Sykes was able to make good use of the faster qualifying tyres during the final minutes of Superpole, setting what was then the best time - with a new lap record of 01:40.483 minutes. It was only Kawasaki rider Jonathan Rea (GBR) who managed to go one better and claim pole position. Sykes claimed the second spot on the front row. Reiterberger also reached the top ten in Superpole, finishing ninth.

Sykes initially dropped back after the start of the race but stayed in the leading group that was battling for podium positions, however the British rider fell on lap eight out of 20. He was able to remount and continued the race on his RR in 15^th place. He proceeded to move up two places to 13^th during the remaining laps. Reiterberger also lost a few places after the start. He then gave a solid race performance, crossing the line in twelfth position

Further information in the press release to download