Mackenzie and Lopes take on the elements on Friday at Estoril

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team is at Estoril Circuit for the penultimate round of the 2024 Superbike World Championship, with Tarran Mackenzie once again joined in the garage by Portuguese rider Ivo Lopes this weekend, who substitutes for injured Adam Norrodin.

On a Friday characterized by heavy rain, Mackenzie and Lopes were on track for the morning’s first practice in full wet conditions. Owing to these conditions, the 45-minute session was red-flagged a little over ten minutes but soon resumed, with both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders working hard as their confidence grew on the slippery asphalt. Mackenzie, who has a certain affinity for the wet weather conditions, played a starring role in this opening practice, the British rider continuing to lower his times and work his way up the timesheets. A crash with two minutes to go prevented Tarran from doing more, but he nevertheless set a best of 1’52.994 to place an impressive fourth as FP1 drew to a close. Lopes, who is quite literally ‘at home’ at the Estoril track, made good progress throughout this opening session, setting a fastest time of 1’55.671 to position nineteenth. The local rider was potentially prevented from doing more after he suffered a crash through Turn 7 with just five minutes left to go.

Both PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders were back on track a few hours later, their respective technicians having worked hard to repair the damage caused to the bikes in the FP1 crashes. The second practice began in dry conditions, meaning that Mackenzie and Lopes set about identifying an effective dry setup in preparation for the weekend’s races. Exploiting his knowledge of the track, Portuguese rider Ivo was able to set a series of interesting lap times early on in the session, the best of which in 1’39.428. Rain then returned during the second half of the practice, ruling out any further improvement, which meant that Lopes rounded out the day in seventeenth position in the combined standings. After doing well in the wet, Mackenzie had a more challenging time in the dry conditions of FP2 as he worked to iron out a few technical issues with his team. A best reference of 1’41.157, set at the start of the practice, saw him position twenty-third overall.

Ivo Lopes P17

“It’s great to be riding here at home but the conditions were of course not ideal today, with rain and wind for FP1. Despite that, the session didn’t go too badly for me, and I was able to gradually improve in the wet conditions. It seemed less of a struggle than at Magny-Cours for example. Then FP2 ran in very different conditions, dry but on a still damp track. I was able to push anyway, and I like the bike, although there are areas where we can improve of course. The second session went better for sure, but I know we can do more tomorrow if we keep working hard.”

Tarran Mackenzie P23

“I haven’t been to Estoril for more than a decade, so first I had to re-learn the track, which I don’t mind doing in the rain actually. I ended up having really good feeling and felt free to play with the bike a bit. I ended up fourth and although I had a little crash, I know what I did wrong. So that session was good for my confidence more than anything. In FP2 we had a problem on the out lap that caused us to lose a chunk of time. When we went back out, I had a different electronics issue and just as we worked out how to sort that, the rain came, so not ideal. Anyway, this weekend’s about making steps after changes we made at Aragón and at least if it rains again over the weekend, we’ll have a direction to go in. I’m looking forward to tomorrow whatever the conditions; let’s see what we can do.” 

Mackenzie qualifies eighth while Lopes reaches the points zone

After Mackenzie qualified eighth in a wet Superpole, substitute rider Lopes ran a consistent race 1 to finish inside the points zone, in fifteenth place.

After persistent rain overnight, the SBK field took to a wet track for Saturday morning’s practice. Despite the conditions, Tarran Mackenzie and Portuguese rider Ivo Lopes, who continues to stand in for Adam Norrodin, ventured out onto the slippery track to better understand and refine the wet setting of their CBR1000RR-R ahead of a potentially wet Superpole and first race. Tarran and Ivo placed eleventh and fifteenth at the end of this final preparatory phase.

Although the rain stayed away, the track was still wet when the SBK field returned to the track for the all-important Superpole. Mackenzie demonstrated strong pace right from lap one, the Brit confident in the mixed conditions just as he has proved to be in the past. Lapping inside the top ten from start to finish, Tarran continuously improved on his lap times. His best lap, set in 1’53.796, came in the final seconds of this 15-minute phase and was enough to secure him a spot on the third row of the grid, in eighth position, for the afternoon’s first race. Home rider Lopes was also able to pick up the pace as the track gradually began to dry, but failed to find the kind of feeling he was looking for in the mixed conditions. A fastest time of 1’58.107 meant that Ivo rounded out the session in twenty-second position.

Although rain fell shortly before Race 1, the track had almost dried by the time the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda riders took to the grid. This did not benefit Mackenzie who, more at ease in the wet, slipped from eighth on the grid to sixteenth through the first corners after having a small technical issue. Battling as part of a small group, Tarran struggled to maintain a sufficiently fast pace, the Brit losing ground to his closest rivals and finding himself eighteenth at the mid-race point. Unable to make up any positions considering the gaps that had opened up, Mackenzie held eighteenth to the line. From row eight, Lopes worked hard to get into a consistent rhythm that allowed him to make up four positions in the first seven laps. Keen to obtain a strong result at his home track, wildcard Ivo continued to fight, progressing to P16 with eight laps to go. With the points zone in his sights, the Portuguese rider did well to cross the line fifteenth and score his very first Superbike championship point.

Ivo Lopes P15

“Yesterday we had good feeling in the dry FP2, but this morning the track was wet, and I didn’t get on so well in those conditions in practice or qualifying. Race 1 ran in the dry though, and honestly, I didn’t do so badly, even scoring my first championship point. I think I can do more actually, as I now understand the bike better now, so hopefully we can take another step tomorrow. It’s been great today though, racing here at home in Estoril, and I want to say a big thank you to the team and to everyone who’s here supporting me; it’s so important to me.”

Tarran Mackenzie P18

“We made a couple of laps in the rain in FP3 and I didn’t have the best feeling but then it rained again before Superpole, and I was able to put together my best qualifying of the season. I made a good push towards the end of the session and finish P8. It was great to be lining up on the third row, the only problem was that I’d only had about two laps of dry riding time before today’s dry Race 1, so I was going into it pretty blind. I had a little issue off the line, which we can fix for tomorrow but it meant that I didn’t get a great start and I then went backwards quite quickly. It was useful to follow Ivo for a time, considering how well he knows the Estoril track, so I learned a lot from him but then struggled with the bike in the latter stages. Having missed the test, it was almost like a first practice in the dry for me, so hopefully we can use what we learned today to be more in the mix tomorrow. I’m nevertheless pleased with how qualifying went and how I’m riding in the rain. We’ll try again tomorrow.”

Lopes in the points at Estoril

The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team concludes the Estoril WorldSBK round with a fifteenth-place finish in Race 2 for substitute rider Ivo Lopes, while an early crash for Tarran Mackenzie rules him out of the race.

In this penultimate round of the 2024 Superbike World Championship, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has fielded Tarran Mackenzie and Portuguese rider Ivo Lopes, who once again substitutes for injured Adam Norrodin. After persistent wet weather on Friday and Saturday, Sunday’s Race 2 ran in dry conditions. Prior to that though, a morning warm-up took place on a track that still had a lot of damp patches, which meant that many of the SBK riders, Mackenzie included, opted not to ride. Lopes did head out on track, making a total of four laps aboard the CBR1000RR-R during this short session.

The ten-lap Superpole race got underway as scheduled at 11am CET. Having achieved his best qualifying result of the season yesterday, Mackenzie started the race from eighth on the grid. Dropping to thirteenth through the first corners, the British rider did his best to remain with the chasing group but could only do so much. Losing further ground and positions as the race went on, Tarran concluded this ten-lap sprint in nineteenth place. Twenty-first on the grid, Lopes worked to maintain contact with the rider immediately ahead. Gaining one position during the course of the sprint, the local rider crossed the line twentieth.

Mackenzie started the weekend’s second and final race from thirteenth on the grid, Lopes again twenty-first. The pair found themselves one behind the other by the end of lap one, but it wasn’t Tarran’s day, the British rider crashing out on lap two. Ivo climbed as high as seventeenth through the initial stages, battling in a small group of three riders. Sixteenth at the mid-race point, he was very keen to reach the points zone and replicate his race 1 result. Moving up into fifteenth during the latter stages, local rider Lopes achieved his objective, scoring another championship point as he confirmed P15.

After this penultimate WorldSBK round, Mackenzie positions twenty-third in the championship standings with 7 points and Lopes twenty-seventh with 2 points. The PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team will now prepare for the 2024 season finale, set to take place next weekend at the Jerez Circuit in Spain.

Tarran Mackenzie DNF

“I felt like I made a step in the Superpole race today. The lap times were a lot better, and I was closer to the group in front, so I was happy in that respect. Overall, I feel that we’ve taken a step with the electronics this weekend, trying to understand whether I need to adapt my riding style a bit and what the bike needs in order to ride a little better. The dry track time was limited this weekend but I’m happy with the progression we made there. It’s just a pity I didn’t get many laps in in Race 2. I was behind Sam Lowes and he ran a little wide through turn 2 and then tighter into the next turn, which meant I then ran a little wide and unfortunately lost the front. I couldn’t get back on the bike, and so that was that. A shame, but it was nice to show potential and speed in the rain and qualify on the front three rows. That was an improvement, and I’ve felt a bit more competitive, which is nice. Now we just need to keep working and progressing and finish the season on a positive note at Jerez.”

Ivo Lopes P15

“Another day, another point! I’ve really enjoyed today, as the team was able to really improve the bike. Although we were only 20th in the Superpole race, my pace was strong, and I felt I had good speed and feeling. And in Race 2, I again felt better than I had yesterday and scored another point. So, I want to say a big thank you to the team, for all their hard work and support. It’s been amazing to race at my home track in front of a home crowd, really a dream come true for me to have raced in WorldSBK here, so thank you so much to everyone who helped to make this happen.”