Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) once again topped the timesheets in the second Free Practice of the Nolan Portuguese Round, as tougher conditions slowed down the field and left most of the best times unchanged in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship

The session was anything but comfortable for the Northern Irishman, who was stopped in his tracks by an early crash going through turn six at Portimao. His best time of 1’42.183 was slower than his FP1 best, yet still enough to lead by four tenths of a second.

Only six riders managed to improve upon their earlier best laps, with Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) making the biggest jump to second in FP2 and third overall. His teammate Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) also slightly bettered his FP1 time yet fell to fifteenth in the combined standings and remains in danger of not entering tomorrow’s Superpole 2.

Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) took the third fastest time in FP2 and was one of only three riders to go below 1’43 in the second session. He leaps to ninth in the combined rankings, knocking Jake Gagne (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) out of the top ten.

Loris Baz (GULF Althea BMW Racing Team) and Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) were the other two riders to improve positions in FP2, moving up to thirteenth and fourteenth, respectively. With just one session remaining, who goes through directly to tomorrow’s Superpole 2 is still very much up in the air.

No one’s giving up just yet! One chance left to qualify directly for  tomorrow’s Superpole 2: FP3 kicks off at 16:05 local time (15:05 GMT) live on WorldSBK VideoPass!