Team HRC has concluded round 3 of the Superbike World Championship at the Portimão circuit in Portugal with a top five finish with Alvaro Bautista in the weekend’s third and final race.

The 10-lap Superpole race got underway at 11am. Tenth off the line, Haslam immediately moved up into eighth. Able to maintain a consistent pace throughout the short sprint, the Brit retained eighth for almost the entire race, dropping down just one position on the final lap to cross the line ninth. Bautista was lying thirteenth through the opening laps but soon made up ground to move up into eleventh, a position he then held all the way to the finish line.

Lining up for race 2 later in the afternoon, the HRC riders started from eighth (Haslam) and eleventh (Bautista). Leon made an excellent start, moving quickly into sixth position. Progressing to fifth place on lap seven, the Brit unfortunately suffered a crash on lap eleven as he headed into turn 5. Unhurt and able to get straight back on his bike, Haslam re-joined the race in thirteenth position, battling to finish the race inside the points zone and ultimately crossing the line in thirteenth place to score three precious championship points.

Alvaro was lying tenth on lap two but was able to set a consistent pace and to gain good ground through the subsequent laps, to position seventh by lap eight. The Spaniard progressively moved up into fifth position and, in the final stages, pushed hard to reach Davies immediately ahead of him but unfortunately the gap that had opened up prevented him from catching the Welshman, Bautista thus crossing the line fifth to score his best result of the season so far.

Three rounds into the championship and Bautista lies seventh in the overall standings with 55 points, Haslam positions eleventh with 36 points.


Alvaro Bautista  19 - SPRC 11th | RACE2 5th

“Our aim today was to try and improve on yesterday’s feeling. This morning in the Superpole race, I lost quite a lot at the start and then couldn’t make up the lost ground given the limited laps. In the second Superbike race, I started from the same position as yesterday and again found that I was having to make a lot of effort in the early stages to hold my position. The track was more slippery this afternoon and we saw a few crashes, so you have to manage the situation and adapt the best you can. I understood how much I could push, and I tried to ride according to that limit. The good thing is that we can be constant throughout the race. We are definitely taking small steps forward, and we’re happy we’re making progress of course, but we want to be further forward.”

Leon Haslam  91 - SPRC 9th | RACE2 13th

“The sprint race was not bad over the first few laps, and it was nice to be up there in the mix, but from about mid-race we started to have some issues. We managed to just hold onto ninth to finish inside the points zone so that was better than nothing. We made some small steps in the final race of the day and things felt a little better. I was battling with Chaz for fifth but unfortunately on around lap seven or eight I had a problem and crashed. It was the first time I felt I could really fight so it was a little frustrating, but at least I was able to get back on the bike and finish the race. We have another test coming up, so we’ll be using that to try and solve some of the problems we’ve had this weekend as we prepare for the next rounds.”