Estoril, FP2: Three Ducatis at the front – Miguel Oliveira (BMW) the closest challenger

The line-up for the 2026 Superbike World Championship at Estoril has remained unchanged since Cremona: Loris Baz is standing in for the injured Tarran Mackenzie at the Ducati Optical Express team until the end of the season, whilst Twan Smits is taking over from Bahattin Sofuoglu at Motoxracing Yamaha.

Unsurprisingly, World Champion Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) set the fastest lap time of 1:35.546in FP1 this morning. However, the closest challenger was not Cremona triple winner Iker Lecuona (Ducati), but the up-and-coming privateer Alberto Surra (Ducati), who was just 0.052 seconds slower than Bulega. The fastest rider on a different make was Bimota’s star rider Alex Lowes, who finished fourth, 0.5 seconds off the pace. Local hero Miguel Oliveira (BMW) came in tenth.

At the start of the second practice session at 3 pm local time – Portugal is one hour behind – the thermometer read a pleasant 25 degrees and the sun was shining from an almost cloudless sky. Surra set the first notable lap time after five minutes with a 1:36.139. Álvaro Bautista (Ducati) and Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) both managed early improvements, clocking 1:36.256 and 1:36.733 respectively.

After ten minutes, Bulega topped the timesheets with the fastest lap so far at 1:35.497, with Lecuona just 0.141 seconds behind. Surra, in third place, was already 0.6 seconds adrift! Alongside seven Ducati riders, the top ten included the two Bimota riders, Lowes and Axel Bassani, as well as BMW ace Oliveira.

At the halfway point of the 45-minute session, Bulega remained in the lead with a slightly improved time of 1:36.432 min. To put this into perspective: the Italian set the lap record of 1:34.973 min a year ago in the Superpole Race. Alongside the two Aruba riders, Yari Montella (3rd/Ducati) and Alex Lowes (4th) also shone with laps under 1:36 mins. Only six of the 22 riders had not yet set a faster time than they had in the morning. Alongside Surra, these were Somkiat Chantra (15th/Honda), Garrett Gerloff (16th/Kawasaki), as well as Xavi Vierge (17th), Remy Gardner (19th) and Twan Smits (22nd/all Yamaha).

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Estoril: Der Samstag

FIM Superbike World Championship

10.10.2026 - 10:35

In the second half, the riders continued to work on the race set-up of their motorbikes. Lecuona impressed with a long run featuring numerous 1:35-minute laps. Behind the Ducati factory riders at the top, who led by 0.4 seconds, the field was tightly packed: In sixth place, Oliveira was 0.4 seconds off the pace, whilst Bassani in 10th was 0.9 seconds behind. Only the Dutchman Twan Smits was more than two seconds off the pace.

Seven minutes before the end, Sam Lowes (Ducati) skidded through the gravel at Turn 6 – it was one of very few incidents during the session. The Englishman was only in ninth position at that point.

In the final minutes, a number of riders jumped on their bikes in search of a fast lap. Chantra made a big leap forward, improving to 9th place with a time of 1:36.179. During this phase, Mattia Rato (Yamaha) caused the first real crash of FP2 in Turn 7. The Italian was shaken up quite badly and his bike was badly bent.

However, things really got interesting at the front. On a fresh tyre, Alberto Surra surged into second place, just 0.066 seconds slower than Bulega. A crash by Remy Gardner in the final minute meant that many riders had their fast laps disallowed. As the best non-Ducati rider, Oliveira finished the second free practice session in fourth place, 0.384 seconds off the pace. Behind him were Bassani, Montella, Alex Lowes, Jake Dixon (Honda), Bautista and Gerloff.

The best Yamaha rider in FP2 was Xavi Vierge, who finished 14th, 0.932 seconds off the pace.