Gordon Ritchie | February 2, 2023
The final European-based pre-season tests for the majority of the 2023 WorldSBK entry, plus a few other important WorldSSP riders, took place at Portimao in Portugal between January 31 and February 1, in the consistently clear winter sunshine.
Better conditions could hardly be expected at this time of the year, even in southern Portugal, which was part of the reason why the fastest rider of all, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba Ducati), set a best lap almost into the 1:38s, with a 1:39.035 on the final day. That is pretty much into MotoGP territory, which shows how much the pace is being pushed by the top riders in WorldSBK—and how gnarly the Portimao layout is, of course.
Bautista had another crash on day two, finding the limits of the new Panigale V4 R, with its smoother engine character helping both top Ducati riders in mid-corner and on the exits. Alvaro clearly left the test happy, very relaxed, and looking forward to going to Phillip Island for round one to retain his WorldSBK title.
Others are fully intent on stopping him, of course.
Second, and only just 0.009 seconds behind Bautista, even if he could not get the softest tires to improve his best pace when in time attack mode, was Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).
The six times world champion was satisfied that most of the small changes to the Ninja ZX-10RR for this season were going to be beneficial, but it seems certain that one big leap forward in engine performance is not going to materialize.
The 2022 big three may be a big four this coming season if Bautista’s teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, can continue the form he displayed at Portimao. Fastest on day one, he was finally third best and looking the part as a factory rider again.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha) was eased out to fourth place as he continued to work on component choices after setting a good time of 1:39.441 on the final morning. It was too cool in the afternoon to try to go faster, after he back-to-back tested new swingarms and other smaller parts.
Andrea Locatelli, Razgatlioglu’s official factory teammate, was fifth, with the best HRC Honda belonging to Iker Lecuona. There are no more concessions to start this season for Honda, and the 2023 chassis mods are actually the same ones made for the end of last season.
The vast majority of the top riders set their best times on the second day, after building pace and machine set-up but Xavi Vierge was seventh overall for HRC Honda thanks to his Tuesday time.
Remy Gardner (GRT Yamaha) was top rookie and top independent rider at Portimao, in eighth place, boding well for his first ever WorldSBK race at his home circuit in Australia at the end of this month.
Alex Lowes had a crash-marred Portimao on his KRT machine, working only on race tires on the final day to get his final set-up ready for round one. Still work to do it seems for him, even if Rea was second fastest and happy with his new electronics engineers.
Tom Sykes found some pace on day two to take his Independent Kawasaki Puccetti Racing Ninja to 10th place.
Until now, in a field that is dripping in old and new talents, there has been no BMW rider mentioned, as the German manufacturer’s four-strong riding line up found difficulties and sometimes lost time in the pits.
On his 30th birthday, Loris Baz (Bonovo BMW), was top M 1000 RR rider, but 11th.
New BMW boy Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo BMW) was 12th, thanks to his first day time, with the official riders Michael van der Mark and Scott Redding 13th and 14th respectively. The mood inside the BMW garages could only be described as gloomy and serious.
“The BMW engine is different from the (cross plane crankshaft) Yamaha,” Gerloff said. “The BMW has a ton of power—how fast the thing revs, it is ridiculous. The feeling I think is about trying to manage that power, especially when we are on full elan angle and picking the bike up and trying to drive with it. I think managing it is do-able but it has been kind of a challenge trying to figure out exactly how to do it. We are making progress. It is going to take maybe a second to get close to full potential. But if we can keep that trajectory upward then I am hoping we can get there sooner or later.”
Privateer Ducati rider Philipp Öttl (GO Eleven Ducati) was 15th, while Jerez super-rookie Dominique Aegerter (GRT Yamaha) was 16th. GMT94’s first WorldSBK foray saw ex-Supersport challenger Lorenzo Baldassarri in 17th place.
Reigning BSB champion Bradley Ray was 18th on his European-rounds-only Motoxracing Yamaha R1, but he was still ahead of two strong Ducati riders, Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing) and Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa) who completed the top 20.
Nothing, if not the fact that names such as Petrucci and Bassani were holding up the main competitors can explain just how tough and bursting with possibilities WorldSBK looks to be in 2023. Bassani’s 1:41.394 best lap was 2.3 seconds slower than Bautista, on his first ride back since last season, so those margins looks like they will be reduced all the more once a proven podium runner like Bassani gets into his stride.
It looks like it’s going to be a WorldSBK year and half, starting in the last weekend of February.
Portimao WorldSBK Test Results
1 |
Alvaro Bautista |
Ducati |
1:39.035 |
2 |
Jonathan Rea |
Kawasaki |
+0.009 |
3 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
Ducati |
+0.109 |
4 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
Yamaha |
+0.406 |
5 |
Andrea Locatelli |
Yamaha |
+0.670 |
WorldSSP
A few top names in the 30-strong WorldSSP season riding line-up (if we include WorldSSP Challenge riders, who will only race in Europe) were in attendance at the Portimao tests, some for the first time on their 2023 bikes.
One top Ducati runner from 2022, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba Ducati), was the fastest rider over the two days in Portugal, with a 1:43.636 lap time, which was quicker than some of the lower-order WorldSBK riders.
Federico Caricasulo (Althea Ducati) was almost half a second off his countryman, and second overall, with former four-cylinder Kawasaki rider Yari Montella third fastest after his first Ducati V2 Panigale experience.
The best four-cylinder 600 was the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider, Can Öncü, in fourth place, complete with ride-by-wire throttles to modernize the Kawasaki package.
Fifth was returning VerdNatura Ducati rider, Raffaele de Rosa, with new Ten Kate Yamaha contender Stefano Manzi sixth. Valentin Debise (GMT94) placed seventh, and the second new Ten Kate Yamaha rider, Jorge Navarro, eighth. Oli Bayliss, in his new-for-2023 D34G Ducati team, was ninth of the 11 Supersport riders on display.
WorldSSP joins WorldSBK at Phillip Island, but the WorldSSP300 riders will not appear until Round Three of the ‘full’ season, at Assen in April.
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