Castrol Honda’s Jonathan Rea posted the fastest lap on day two of the Portimao World Superbike test in Portugal on Thursday, set in drying conditions following morning showers.

Rea proved the most effective of the 12 riders who took to the track in a weather-affected afternoon session, taking advantage of slowly drying track conditions to record a 1:54.718.

The best overall lap time of the tests so far still stands to Jakub Smrz (Effenbert Liberty Ducati) with a 1:43.503, set in dry conditions yesterday.

The lap times were held back on Thursday by a track surface that was made slippery by several small drops of rain, which came and went as the day unfolded.

“Today was a bit grim at the start so we sat out the first session hoping it would dry but it didn’t,” declared Rea.

““We ended up taking to the track in the last hour and to my surprise we found our wet base setting very good as well. It was puddles wet and damp wet but a decent day anyway.”

Marco Melandri (Yamaha World Superbike Team) went second quickest today, Carlos Checa was third for Althea Racing Ducati and Sylvain Guintoli (Effenbert Liberty Ducati) slotted in fourth.

Smrz was fifth, Tom Sykes sixth and proving to be the only Kawasaki Racing Team rider to take to the track, as Joan Lascorz did not want to risk the recovery of his left shoulder in such changeable track conditions.

Eugene Laverty was only out in the morning session on his Yamaha World Superbike Team bike.

Max Biaggi did not set any laps today, not riding in the morning rain and then heading to Monaco for an important PR appearance, before returning to action tomorrow.

Ruben Xaus (Castrol Honda) did not ride as already he has three wet days of testing under his belt so far in his new role.

The Supersport World Championship riders suffered some of the same issues as the Superbike riders today, with changing track conditions proving tricky and inconsistent.

Just before the rains returned in the afternoon session Luca Scassa (Yamaha ParkinGO) posted the fastest time of the day, a 1:57.074.

Scassa’s teammate Chaz Davies was exactly 0.4 seconds behind and Gino Rea hopped up the order to third on his Step Racing Team Honda.

Newcomer Sam Lowes (Parkalgar Honda) was fourth today but is still fastest overall thanks to his first day dry time of 1:45.845.

Aussie Broc Parkes was seventh, while Mitch Pirotta ended day two with the 15th quickest lap.

One more day of testing remains.