Jonathan Rea secures another three third places at the Misano Circuit to maintain his leader position in the championship, while Lowes remains fourth overall.
The Kawasaki Racing Team riders arrived at the Misano Marco Simoncelli Circuit, Italy, ready to continue fighting for the 2021 WorldSBK championship, which has now reached its third round. Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes started riding sunny skies on Friday, focused on FP1. The KRT duo found their best rhythm at the key moment of FP2, recording good times, which helped them gain confidence for the next sessions.
Lowes spent much of Friday learning more about the movements of his new Ninja ZX-10RR on his first visit to Misano as a Kawasaki rider. After a stable start in the morning, he was able to achieve a strong pace in FP2, after choosing a softer tire option.
For his part, Rea spent some time in the box trying to solve some problems related to his rear brakes with his team, but he was soon able to get back on track to continue racing on one of his favorite circuits, especially after the cancellation of the race last season due to COVID-19 restrictions. The track has been resurfaced since the WorldSBK riders last set foot on Misano, and the new asphalt appears to have improved the overall driving experience.
On Saturday, the drivers had to adapt to a track with a temperature of more than 50ºC, which was a challenge for the 22 riders on the grid. The day began with a Jonathan Rea positioned behind the hitherto leader of the race, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, until he suffered a frontal slip. Although he was able to hold the bike and was able to avoid the crash, he lost second place and eventually finished third on his 150th podium visit with Kawasaki. In addition, Rea achieved his third Superpole victory of the season, again at a record pace, with a lap time of 1'33.416.
Lowes managed to finish the first race of the weekend fifth, having started from sixth place and having had to deal with a couple of landslides. However, he proved to be able to focus on his overall race pace and hold his position to finish in the top five.
Already in Sunday's ten-lap Tissot Superpole, Rea and Lowes repeated results, with a third place on the podium for the Northern Irish rider and a fifth position for the British.
In the final race of 21 laps, Rea gave his best, finishing third, once again, having opted for a different choice of front tires to try and fight for victory. This latest result puts him 20 points ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu in the overall championship standings.
Lowes, for his part, fought the entire race for another fifth place, but ultimately finished sixth, finishing fourth in the overall championship standings, behind Scott Redding.
The riders now have three weeks to prepare for the next event, which will run from the 2nd to 4th of July at Donington Park in the UK.
As for the second round of the WorldSSP300 season, Ana Carrasco returned having a very good performance, achieving her first victory after recovering from the spinal injury that forced her to leave last season halfway through.
In this second race, held on the Italian circuit, Ana started from the fifth row of the grid and quickly moved into sixth position, moving all the time among a large group that was in the lead. However, Ana decided to take a chance on a spectacular last lap, ahead of the riders who preceded her to fight for the much desired podium positions. Finally, she crossed the finish line first, and is now third overall in the championship, 30 points behind the category leader, Adrián Huertas.
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