Tito Rabat and Kawasaki Puccetti Racing were out at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal for the second day of action making up the seventh WorldSBK round.
The Spanish rider completed two free practices on Friday, in which he set the sixteenth fastest time (1’41”424), just seven tenths from first.
This afternoon, Tito was back on track for Superpole, which established the starting grid for Race 1. Improving on his best of Friday by almost a second (1’40”518), Rabat qualified eleventh, which meant a fourth row start for the evening’s first 20-lap race.
The Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider got away well when the lights went out, moving into sixteenth place. As the race went on, Tito was able to maintain a good pace, making up two more places to cross the line fourteenth and score two championship points.
A good result that would have been better had he not come into contact with other riders at the start of the race, something that prevented Rabat from potentially reaching the top ten.
Tomorrow the Spaniard will take part in the Superpole Race and then Race 2, which rounds out the Portuguese race weekend.
Autodromo Internacional do Algarve – Portimao – Portugal
Superbike World Championship
Superpole: 1) Razgatlioglu (BMW) – 2) Lowes (Ducati) – 3) Petrucci (Ducati) – 4) Bulega (Ducati) – 5) Van der Mark (BMW) – 6) Bautista (Ducati) ……… 11) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Race 1 – 1) Razgatlioglu (BMW) – 2) Bautista (Ducati) – 3) Petrucci (Ducati) – 4) Gerloff (BMW) – 5) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 6) Van der Mark (BMW) ……… 14) Rabat (Kawasaki)
Tito Rabat
“Today I think I ran my best race of the season. We closed just 17 seconds from the front, even though I had some tyre issues from mid-race on, particularly at the front. I can feel we’re close to achieving the kind of performance and results we were aiming for at the start of the season. We’re missing a step, but I’m sure this will come in the next races, perhaps already tomorrow. Thanks to the team for their incredible support.”
