The Irish rider will be absent in Portimão from March 28 to 30 due to a foot injury.
The Superbike World Championship returns to the Algarve’s International Racetrack in Portimão from March 28 to 30. However, the much-anticipated weekend of racing has already suffered a casualty as Jonathan Rea has withdrawn due to a crash during the final pre-season tests that resulted in multiple fractures in a foot.
Born in Northern Ireland, the Yamaha rider—who has won 11 times in Portimão—made his debut in the championship’s top category when it first visited the circuit near Portimão in 2008, riding a Honda and achieving an impressive fourth place in the inaugural race.
It was with Kawasaki that he became one of the legends of world motorcycling. He won six Superbike world titles, a feat no other rider has achieved in its 37-year history.
At the controls of a Yamaha R1 for the second year, the rider will be replaced in Portimão by Spaniard Augusto Fernandez, the current test rider for the Japanese brand in the MotoGP World Championship, who will thus be making his Superbike debut on a track he knows, although it will again present a challenge for the entire squad.
Tickets for the second round of the year, and the first on European soil, are now available for purchase on the official website of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve: www.autodromodoalgarve.com.
