Gardner Fastest Yamaha at Portimao WorldSBK Test

Razgatlioglu goes under lap record with fastest time for BMW, followed by Nicolo Bulega and Alex Lowes

During a two-day Portimao test session Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) set a blistering 1’39.520 best lap time that beat the track best pace – and doubtless boosted his morale after a tough opening round of the 2025 season some three weeks ago.

Each day of testing action, held between 14-15 March, featured both dry and wet conditions, which limited track time and frustrated many team’s plans for real technical development – and even race preparation for the forthcoming Portimao round itself in some cases.

Triple race winner in Australia, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), placed second overall despite a crash at T11 on day two. He went on to beat his Friday best time to finish with a 1’40.017 and a second place ranking overall.

Some progress was made on the all-new bimota KB998 in the hands of Alex Lowes, who set the third quickest time after improving the front end and making other small advances based on the first real race experience in Australia.

Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was just pipped to third best time by Lowes.

The best Yamaha rider proved to be Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in fifth place overall. His efforts ensured that there would be four different manufacturers inside the top five places.

After a virtual Ducati whitewash of the top finishing positions at Phillip Island, the second quickest V4-R rider at Portimao was Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati), who was sixth quickest.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) placed seventh after being third fastest on day one. After only one day of action at Portimao, on Saturday 15th March, Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) posted the eighth best time.

Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) recorded the ninth best lap time while the second bimota, ridden by Axel Bassani, placed tenth overall.

Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) secured the best testing time for Honda, but his 11th fastest lap of day two was a marked contrast to being fourth on day one.

In WorldSSP five supported Yamaha riders were out on track, with Can Öncü (Evan Bros. Yamaha) the fastest of all in the middleweight class. GMT94 Yamaha rider Lucas Mahias placed second and Race One winner in PI, Stefano Manzi (Ten Kate Yamaha) was third.

Next up for all inside the WorldSBK paddock will be a return to Portimao for the second round of the championship, which will take place between 28-30 March.

Nicolò Bulega – “It was a bit of a difficult test for us because we worked hard to find a good feeling, but it didn’t arrive. This morning [Day 2] I had a big crash on a very fast corner here in Portimao. Fortunately, I am good, but it was more difficult to work because we lost some time as a result, then later the rain made it a difficult and strange test. At the end of the session, the last 15 minutes, we were a bit better; we still have lots of work to do but in the end, we were a lot better.”

Álvaro Bautista –  “We were able to do some laps, especially in the morning, we started the day with the same setup that we finished the last round with, in Australia. The feeling was good, I felt good on the bike. We made some small changes but nothing big. In the afternoon with the rain, the feeling was a bit worse because I couldn’t feel the tires as easily. In general, in the morning I felt good, the pace wasn’t too bad, but we will have to see what the conditions will be like on the race weekend, we prepared the base setup and we will adapt the package from there.”

Remy Gardner – “It was a positive test, and we managed to try some new things ahead of the race. Unfortunately, we missed some valuable track time due to the weather, but we were still able to complete a good number of laps and gather useful data. The lap time was strong, considering it came on a race tyre, and the overall pace was promising, which gives us confidence for the race weekend. That said, we know there’s still work to do, and we’ll make sure to be fully prepared for the second round of the season.”

Andrea Locatelli – “It has not been the simplest of tests with the weather conditions limiting the time on track both days. It has been busy, we tried many different things and it has been hard work deciding which options to choose, but honestly I am pretty happy with the direction. We now have some days to analyse the data ahead of the race weekend so we can keep working in this direction in free practice as we look to improve further for the races. While we did not get a lot of laps, we had enough to understand the feeling, we did not push for a lap time as we focused on completing our test programme but in general I am happy with the test and looking forward to the race weekend.”

Danilo Petrucci – “I’m really happy because, both yesterday and today, I found a great feeling with the bike. This morning, I had a lot of fun, making it do exactly what I wanted. Today, I also completed a long run with used tyres at a very fast pace. Due to the rain, we decided not to go out in the afternoon, but I’m really satisfied with the work done in the box. The bike has changed a lot, both in terms of geometry and electronics, and all the modifications have worked well. I’m feeling very confident for the race.”

Andrea Iannone – “The weather also affected this test, unfortunately, on the first day, we only rode in the afternoon, while today the rain came after the first laps, when I was finding a good pace and a good feeling. We always worked in race conditions, without looking for the fastest lap and also we only used one tyre compound, which made it difficult to compare with the other riders on the track. We collected interesting data, both in terms of set-up and electronics, now we have two weeks to work and get ready for the Round. I’m calm, I know what we need, and I think we can arrive in Portimao in a better condition compared to last year.”

Dominique Aegerter – “It’s always nice to be back testing, especially at a track where we’ll be racing in just a few weeks. We tried some new things and gathered valuable data ahead of the second round of the season. Unfortunately, we lost some track time due to the rain, but we still managed to put in some good laps and get a decent amount of dry running. Now it’s time to focus on what we learned and work towards improving as much as possible for the race weekend. I’m confident we can make a step forward in the right direction.”

Xavi Vierge – “We were expecting dry time today, but unfortunately it was quite wet all morning. Of course, this changed our plan because we didn’t have enough track time to test everything, but we were able to test the most important things like the electronics. At the start, the feeling was not perfect, coming from Australia, the temperatures are much lower and it’s a very different track, so we needed to adapt the bike setup a bit. After a few pit exits I started to feel good, and it allowed us to focus on the test items we wanted to try. We found something that we had been working on in the past, and let’s say we recovered it, and it looks like it was helping us a lot. As soon as we started working on it, we improved our pace a lot. I was happy, because I think even with the less than ideal conditions we were fast with the race tire. We need to stay grounded because, as we know, those low temperatures are always helpful to us, and we need to see if we are still as competitive in higher temperatures. For the moment, today was really positive, it feels really nice to be fast and competitive, so I am happy with that and a big thank you to the team for their work.”

Augusto Fernandez – “We didn’t have the best of weather, so not a lot of track time, but in the end luckily, we had the last hour. It was an important one because we had some things on our mind that we wanted to try out and to forward the learning process.” said Fernandez “I’m happy how everything went, we managed to improve the lap time at the very end, so I’m happy about that. Now to just continue getting to know the team and trying to get ourselves ready for the race weekend.”

Portimao WorldSBK Test Times