After dominating on the first day of the start of the SBK National Speed Championship, Ivo Lopes, the several-time national champion, secured Pole for race 2 by setting his fastest lap in 1:39.823. Alongside him on the front row are defending champion Romeu Leite (1:43.218s) and Marco Garcia (1:43823s).
Lopes, who returned to Nacional this season without forgetting the WSBK, started unopposed for the 15 laps of the Estoril Circuit and even in the first lap he already had a difference of more than 2 seconds between Romeu Leite and Marco Garcia.
After the first lap, Lopes, Leite and Garcia were comfortably installed in the top places with Lopes considerably increasing the gap to his pursuers and Gonçalo Ribeiro taking 3rd position in an exchange with Garcia.
The excitement was further back with the drivers in 4th and 8th place running at very close times, separated by thousandths of a second. And excitement was here as the race seemed to be set in terms of victory. But once again, and perhaps because it was the start of the season, the red flags came to create confusion.
João Rego (Yamaha R1, SBK), Corey Tinker (Yamaha R6), 1st in SuperStock and Pedro Fragoso (Yamaha R6), 2nd in Superstock compete against each other for 4th position overall braking for turn 1 at the start of the 10th lap to Estoril. This position would not suit any of the riders as in an attempt to overcome each other they all ended up in the gravel. Taking into account the positioning of the bikes and riders, the race was immediately interrupted.
New grid formed to complete the final 5 laps of the Estoril Circuit with Lopes (SBK) placing his BMW1000 on pole with Leite (R1) and Gonçalo Ribeiro (R6) at his side. Garcia maintained 4th place on the grid.
Red, Green… departure. Race without any more history. Absolute victory for Ivo Lopes (BMW 1000), leaving the reigning national champion Romeu Leite more than 22s behind. In the lowest place on the podium, more than 27s behind the winner and separated by just 0.056s, the 1st and 2nd men in Superstock Marco Garcia and Gonçalo Ribeiro, 3rd and 4th respectively. Miguel Romão is 5th overall, third in SBK and Tiago Morgado 6th overall and 3rd in Superstock.
Circuito Estoril