Castrol Honda's Jonathan Rea has set the pace in this morning's opening Portimao World Superbike free practice session, just nipping ahead of new world champion Carlos Checa with a few minutes to spare with Ayrton Badovini's BMW Italia a surprise third.
Rea deposed the Althea Ducati man with a 1'43.945 which was only 0.036s faster than Checa with Badovini surging into third on a 1'44.323 which was enough to keep the PBM Kawasaki of Tom Sykes in fourth on a 1'44.351 after he also put in a late charge.
Liberty Ducati's Sylvain Guintoli finished the session in fifth after running in second at half-distance but he was forced into the pits with a technical problem, allowing the Alitalia Aprilia of Leon Camier to close to within 0.034s with a 1'44.412 lap.
Works Yamaha's Eugene Laverty led the session to begin with but slipped down the order to seventh ahead of returning Roman Emperor Max Biaggi who managed to bag eighth place riding with his still-injured foot.
Jakub Smrz and Joan Lascorz rounded out the top ten, just ahead of Davide Giugalino who has been promoted from the Althea Superstock team this weekend. Troy Corser is 12th, ahead of Michel Fabrizio and Leon Haslam. Maxine Berger completed the top 15.
