On track at Portugal’s AIA circuit for the second Superbike World Championship round of the 2025 season, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team worked hard on Saturday. Riders Tarran Mackenzie and Zaqhwan Zaidi used the morning’s third and final practice to make final adjustments to their CBR1000RR-R machines. Both were able to improve on Friday’s references, with Tarran putting in a 1’41.741 and Zaqhwan lowering his best of yesterday by half a second (1’44.208).

The team was back out at 11am local time (CET-1) for the Superpole qualifying sessions. Able to set a 1'41.414 on his first exit, Mackenzie went on to complete a second exit but it was his initial time that remained his quickest reference. This result saw him qualify twentieth for the first of the weekend’s Superbike races. Team-mate Zaidi also made his fastest lap in the opening stages of this brief 15-minute phase. Just as he has done in each session so far, the Malaysian continued to improve on his personal best. A fastest time of 1'43.847 meant that he closed twenty-second, for a place on the eighth row of the Race 1 starting grid. 

The first of the weekend’s full length Superbike races, comprising 20 laps, ran at 2pm local time in dry conditions (track temp. 41°C, air temp. 26°C). British rider Mackenzie got away well and was quickly up to seventeenth. Less than a second from the points zone and lapping slightly quicker than some of his closest rivals, Tarran moved into fifteenth place towards the mid-race point. Not content with that position, Mackenzie continued to push hard to the line, securing a solid fourteenth place finish and scoring his first championship points of the season. In his first race at the tricky Portimão circuit, Zaidi made up several positions in the early stages to find himself twentieth on lap two. As the race progressed, the young Malaysian gradually began to lose contact with his immediate rivals. Continuing to work hard and gaining another couple of positions following accidents for other riders, Zaqhwan got as far as lap twelve when unfortunately, he suffered a crash through turn 8 that put a premature end to his efforts.

Tarran Mackenzie #95

“It would have been nice to pass Sofuoglu at the end, but two points is good anyway, in what was probably my best dry race for a long time. We’re still struggling in some areas but if we can make slight improvement there, it could make a big difference, I think. We tried something with the electronics this morning that helped in the race, but I think we can take another step and be a bit more competitive tomorrow. It was hard to make passes as we were losing a little on corner exit so if we can gain a little bit there, it would make the job easier. Let’s see if we can take another step and continue on in the right direction tomorrow.”

Zaqhwan Zaidi #21

“I’m happy with the progress we’re making. Practice by practice I’ve been able to improve and if we compare where we are now to where we were at the first round, it’s clear we’re moving in the right direction. I can be faster now, but I think I could be more comfortable on the bike. Generally, we’ve improved a lot already and I think that the feeling is there, we just need to keep working now. Unfortunately, I crashed in today’s race, losing the front, but before that, I was able to hold the pace. I think I just pushed a little over the limit in trying to get the bike to do what I wanted. But we’ve learned from today and will try something different tomorrow to see if we can continue to make progress.”