Portimao is the largest town in the western Algarve and sits on the bank of the Arade River facing Ferragudo on the opposite bank. It is also the 2019 European City of Sports and hosted the season opener of the Aquabike World Championship last weekend. Racers of over 27 nations attended the world class event. Defending World Champion, Kevin Reiterer came into the season with an incredible performance at the first round of the European Championship and the UAE Title. The Team looked strong in both practice sessions and set pole by just two hundreds of a second in front of Estonian Marten Manni. In both Motos on Saturday Reiterer made no mistake from pole and was 8 seconds clear by the end of lap 1 and then disappeared off into the distance to complete the 10 laps to win by over 1 minute ahead of the rest of the world. "I had my times in Pole where I needed to adjust myself to the track but I figured it out for the Motos. We faced some issues in Moto 2 but the Team did an amazing job to repair the damages suffered on the Hull. Due to a lot of testing in the winter we know what the engine is capable which allows me to give it my all. There is always competition and we want to improve ourselves each time." explains the 26 year old Austrian. Sunday strong winds shocked the field with difficult water conditions. But Reiterer was unfazed by the rougher conditions and was in command from the start building his now customary lead lap-by-lap to win by a 40 second margin. “I like conditions like this some waves and a lot of wind which makes it more interesting and makes the riders’ job, his skill more important.” Daniel Svae Andersen (NOR) completed his best ever weekend on the UIM-ABP tour with another second place to seal his first podium and the runners-up slot, with Marten Manni’s (EST) fourth place behind Raphael Maurin (FRA) putting him onto the third step of the podium. In two weeks time the Championship will make its way to Olbia, Sardinia. For the second time in history the Aquabike World Championship is replacing the famous WRC World Championship as a premiere motorsport attraction.
