The FIM Sportbike World Championship once again delivered a thrilling spectacle at the final race of the brand-new World Championship weekend at the Pirelli Portugal round. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) secured his second victory in WorldSPB history, beating David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) and Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI), relegating the Spaniards to second and third place respectively – their second podium finish in the still-young championship.

AN IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE FROM KAWASAKI: Four of the first five places went to ZX-6R 636s.

Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) stormed from pole position to the front of the field and grabbed the holeshot. Behind him, a trio of Kawasakis—Antonio Torres, Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki), and David Salvador—gave chase. After Fleerackers lost pace, the first four places were all occupied by Kawasakis as they entered the final sector of the last lap. Veneman charged onto the straight and held off the other bikes to win his second race in the championship's history. Salvador finished second for the second time this weekend and was joined in parc fermé by his teammate Torres, completing a weekend with a win and a third-place finish.

BARTOLINI P5: The Italian achieves triumphant success

Artigas was the underdog, as he was 0.046 seconds too slow to beat Torres for third place. He thus had to settle for fourth, finishing the weekend with two top-five finishes. By lap two, Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing) had fought his way up nine positions to fourth. He tried to move further forward but was repeatedly blocked and finished the weekend in fifth. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) was hit on the windscreen by one of the MTM riders at Turn 3 early in the race and dropped several positions as a result, eventually finishing sixth. Diego Poncet (Rac41-Honda) can be very proud of his wildcard performance at Portimao, which he finished in seventh place.

BROKEN CATCHBACK: Vannucci crashes for the second time this weekend in Turn 5

Despite starting from 10th, Vannucci had worked his way up to first place by lap three, overtaking Fleerackers and Bartolini with a clever maneuver. His time at the top was short-lived, however, as he was overtaken by Veneman at turn 1 and ran wide on lap 5, dropping him from second to 11th before he ultimately finished eighth. Ferre Fleerackers, who started from third and led the race at times, lost several positions after being forced wide and suffered a run of bad luck that cost him many places. Bruno Ieraci (CM Triumph Factory Racing) joined his teammate in the top ten, securing 10th place to conclude the round in Portimao before heading to Assen next round.

The top six finishers from WorldSPB Race 2: Full results  here !

1. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki)

2. David Salvador (Team ProDina XCI) +0.060 s

3. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina XCI) +0.094 s

4. Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) +0.140 s

5. Elia Bartolini (CM Triumph Factory Racing) +0.182 s

6. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing)

Fastest lap:  Matteo Vannucci, Aprilia – 1'48.400 min

Championship standings

1. Antonio Torres (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) 41 points

2. David Salvador (Team ProDina Kawasaki XCI) 40

3. Loris Veneman (MTM Kawasaki) 32

4. Xavi Artigas (MTM Kawasaki) 24

5. Ferre Fleerackers (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) 23

6. Jeffrey Buis (Track & Trades Wixx Racing) 23

Follow the WorldSBK at the next race on April 17th in Assen and relive the entire opening round with the  WorldSBK VideoPass!