Jonathan Rea ended the Portuguese🍎 World Superbike weekend having 🀅suffered a technical glitch in Race 1, suffering for pace in the Superpole Race, but also having come through to sixth in Race 2.

It meant tha🦋t Rea ended the weekend with mixed feelings about the Portugueseꩵ round.

“It’s been a positive weeke💮nd in some ways,” Rea said, “as we improved my feeling with the R1 a lot.

“But Portimao has highlighted where we 🉐need to improve. Yesterday in Race 1 I had a good rhythm and pace until we had the technical issue, and today in the Superpole race I got a good start but fighting in the group proved difficult when everyone had ᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ⁤⁤⁤⁤ᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚgrip.

“That compromised our start position for Race 2, I had to ▨start P11. I made a good start, but I got involved in a few fights.”

The latter part of the race was better for Rea, as he was 🔯able to make the most of the ꦕYamaha’s strength on used tyres.

“When I got through I focused on both van der Mark and Petrucci and even though the gap was there, I managed to close them down as one of o𝔉ur strengths with the R1 is pace on used tyres, so I was able to make use of that and stick a stron♍g pass on [van der Mark] on the last lap.”

Rea ended the Portimao weekend feeling like he’d found improvements with his🥃 bike, but with the disappointment of having scored results below his expectations.

“I’ve got mixed emotions as it’s the best I’ve felt with the bike from a chassis point of view and was able to use the bike’s st🌄rengths much better,” he said.

“All in all, it’s been a confidence inspir💛ing weekend as from a feeling point of view, and with the electronics, I’ve gained more trust to ride the bike more like I should. Credit to Andrew [Pitt, Rea’s crew chief] and the crew as they arrived with a setup which gave me some more direct feedback from the rear of the bike, so hopefully🎃 we can take this on to Magny Cours.”