Rea resists took two podiums in WSBK

"In the end, the weekend’s result is better than I imagined when I arrived in Barcelona,” confided Jonathan Rea. “We know that with its straight and a track surface that is very demanding on tyres, this circuit is not the one that suits us best." Jonathan Rea and Alex Lowes were on the front row for the first race of the weekend, and they weren’t in Catalunya to make up the numbers. The six-time world champion was jostled on the first lap but managed to climb from seventh to second place. “I took my time so as not to damage my tyres," he explained. “Unfortunately, I couldn't catch Bautista who was too far ahead.”

Alex Lowes, who was third for a long time, suffered in the final laps from a deteriorating rear tyre and in the end finished seventh. The following day, the two Kawasaki riders managed to share the podium in the sprint race before running into difficulties on race 2. Lowes crashed on the first lap, after losing the front end of his Kawasaki. "With the full fuel tank the bike was pushing hard going into the corners and it got away from me," said the Briton after returning to the pits. Despite this blow, Alex Lowes left Barcelona in seventh place overall. Jonathan Rea was again in contention for the podium on Sunday afternoon but hit a false neutral and had to run straight on. In the process, the Kawasaki rider lost a handful of seconds, to take the chequered flag in fourth place.