Lowes Leads the Way For Yamaha in Portimo

It was Alex Lowes who once again led the Yamaha charge in Portugal, with the 28-year-old Briton continuing his impressive form to finish the two-days of testing second on the timesheet. After a difficult opening day in Portimo, Michael van der Mark made a significant step forward on day two of the test to finish in fifth position, just over 0.3s off the time of his Pata Yamaha WorldSBK teammate. The GRT Yamaha Supported WorldSBK team riders, Sandro Cortese and Marco Melandri, enjoyed mixed fortunes in Portimo. While Cortese declared himself satisfied with his progress during the test, which he finished in seventh position, Melandri was frustrated in his attempts to find a base set up to suit his riding style and was forced to settle for eighth position on the timesheet as a result.