In Superpole qualifying, both MTM Kawasaki riders, Loris Veneman and Gennai, started from the front row of the grid, with Veneman having secured pole position. Superpole takes place on Fridays in 2024, leaving a short warm-up and then Race One to take place on Saturday 10 August.
Track tempertures would rise to 45°C in the opening race, with ambient temperatures of 31°C making it a tough physical race for all the competitors, particularly at such a ‘busy’ circuit, with so many changes of direction and elevation.
In the opening race on Saturday, which held in predictably hot conditions, Veneman made a superb start, leading his peers in the early laps. He was first caught and then passed by Marc Garcia, with Gennai the next to join the battle for the win and podium places at half race distance.
Riding at full pace to catch the leading two riders, Mirko had got back into leading contention and then made the best last lap plan to take full points under a baking Algarve sun.
Championship contender Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) was next to try to close the gap to the warring factions at the very front. In the final couple of laps the chasing pack managed to reel in the leaders, proving a grandstand finish, which is a regular occurrence in this closely matched form of world championship racing.
Iglesias Bravo was unlucky to fall on the final lap but Carter Thompson (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki) had pushed hard through the entire race in his role as stand in for inured regular team rider Petr Svoboda. The young Aussie rider would be rewarded with second place after the final - and frantic - chase for the finish line.
Exiting the long right curve and short uphill drive from ther last corner to the finish line Gennai had a relatively comfortable advantage of 0.893 seconds over Thompson. Garcia finished third, just edging early leader Veneman out of a podium place. Loris would finish fourth.
Jose Manuel Osuna Saez (Deza - Box77 Racing Kawasaki) was the next Kawasaki finisher in Race One, in 11th place.
Thirty riders in all finished Race One, and just like the previous race in Most, there were only three non-finishers.
Under new regulations for the 2024 season, the Race Two grid places are allocated based on the fastest lap set by each leading rider in Race One - not on their finishing position.
Race One winner Gennai got away fast enough to be part of the early leading three rider group on Sunday. Veneman and one other rider pushed away from the pack to join the leading trio and all these riders would contest the podium places all the way to the chequered flag.
With three laps gone Thompson was heading a vast pack of riders chasing the leading quintet. Unfortunately, by that stage Inigo Iglesias Bravo was out of the race, with a technical issue, recording his second no-score of the weekend and losing his championship lead as a result.
Daniel Mogeda (Team 109 Kawasaki) returned from injury at this round and replaced Thompson as the leading rider in the second group on lap five. With so many passes being put in by a vast grouping of riders he was in ninth place just one lap later.
With four laps to go Gennai tried to break away at the front, as he had done in Race One. He could not quite get far enough away to finish the race on his own, but that meant that there would be a grandstand finish after all Sunday’s heated 11 laps of racing.
The two MTM Kawasaki riders worked their way into the top two places on the final lap, but an attack from both Kove riders put Veneman fourth for a time. He went back third, then second as the final corner approached.
By this stage Gennai had ridden cleanly to take the lead and keep it all the way across the line, giving him a winning double in the heat of Portimao’s high summer race weekend.
Just behind, Veneman held his tight inside line and prevented Garcia Gonzalez from taking second place from the teenage Dutchman. Veneman only just secured second place by an impossibly small margin of two thousandths of a second.
Loris also took the fastest lap of the race to add to his 20 points for second place. Best of all for him and his MTM team, he is the new championship leader.
With Mogeda finally sixth, and at the head of the chasing pack, Fenton Seabright (Kawasaki GP Project) battled his way up to tenth at the flag, as part of that 12-rider group. Race one runner-up Thompson would finish 13th - which in itself says a lot about how close and competitive this category is.
In the championship points standings Veneman has 139 points, Iglesias Bravo and unchanged 129, Aldi Mahendra is third with 128 and Gennai has moved up to fourth place with 99 points - 50 of which were scored at Portimao. Mogeda is fifth with 76 points.
In the Manufacturers’ Standings Kawasaki leads Yamaha by 77 points, 229 to 152.
MTM Kawasaki now leads the Teams’ Championship from previous leaders Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki, 238 points to 221.
In ten individual races so far this season, eight have been won by Kawasaki riders.
Magny Cours in France hosts the next round of the championship, between 6-8 September.
Rider Comments
Mirko Gennai (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “I had some difficult moments on lap one of the first race. My team-mate Loris and Garcia tried to escape and then I tried to follow them. In the first two laps I had some difficult moments with Buis and Bartolini, trying to overtake them. After I passed them I just pushed from every lap on. I managed to make a gap out front and tried to escape. I am so happy to win. I know that I have a good feeling with this circuit and I am very happy. On Sunday the race was a little bit slow, I think. I fought with the other riders but I used a little bit more strategy today. I stayed a little bit more behind and did not push every lap in front, like Saturday. But, on the last lap on Sunday, I did not know I had an advantage of one second! I tried to push in every turn and I ended up winning again. Portimao is my favourite track.”
Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki), stated: “For sure the wind got stronger as the first race went on so it was easier for the group to come back to me. The race was really good but I almost got taken out in the last laps and that cost me a bit of time. I still finished fourth so nothing to worry about. Race Two was hard because of the heat and the pace in the beginning was very high, so I had to give it my all. I had to overtake a lot of riders in the first corner because I knew if I did not overtake them then, the front group was gone. I closed the gap to the front and could stay with them. Then, I took a bit of rest because I knew there were some riders in the lead who were faster than me. I let them do the work to keep us ahead of the second group. In the end I timed it perfectly to pass and finish second. Now I am the championship leader, so let’s see how we can go in Magny Cours at the next round.”
Inigo Iglesias Bravo (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki), stated: “The weekend was going well and every time out on the bike it was OK. In Race One I was going fine until I made a small mistake in the last lap and everything went wrong. I thought that maybe after that crash something was wrong in the engine. The result of Race Two is that we had a technical issue. I had to finish the race after not finishing Race One. It is a shame that we lost the championship lead but there is time enough to return to the top. I think that my mechanics will work well for the next round and we will fight against everyone again.”
Carter Thompson (Füsport - RT Motorsports by SKM Kawasaki), stated: “It was a difficult first day here, which didn’t help my first race starting position. I got held up in T1 but I just kept pushing the whole time, as hard as I could, and making overtakes. My pace was also good on my own so I was able to catch the leading group. In the final lap I went as fast as I could into the corners and gained some places. I waited to time my drive down the hill and across the finish line on the last lap. You have to time it right to the line. Not a great Race Two. I got stuck on the outside again in T1 and just got held up in the big group of riders all trying to overtake and snarling everything up. Not the end to the weekend we wanted.”
Daniel Mogeda (Team 109 Kawasaki), stated: “It was a difficult weekend because this is my first race back after my finger injury. It was a little bit difficult because I needed to have more laps. But, we made two good races. In the first one the problem was that I had a penalty of two long laps and started near the back. I finished 13th but I was able to do so much better. In the second race I finished in P6, fighting in the group, and doing my best. I had started in the middle of the grid and that was the mistake of the weekend - the starting position. I know if I could have started nearer the front I could have the pace for the podium. But we did a good job with the team.”
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