Estoril, Sprint: Bulega claims his 28th win of the season – bad luck for Oliveira

For Nicolò Bulega, the Superpole Race at Estoril was his first chance to become the sole holder of the record for the most wins in a Superbike season – since the first race on Saturday, the Ducati factory rider has been sharing this record with Álvaro Bautista, who had racked up an impressive 27 wins in 2023.

The race, which started at 11.10 am local time and consisted of just 10 laps, took place under cloudy skies and at a pleasant 23 degrees Celsius. The fact that the riders do not have to worry about tyre wear and can push to the limit on every lap is what makes this format so exciting. The race is called a ‘sprint’ because the result determines the starting grid for the second race. The top nine riders receive up to twelve World Championship points and take the first nine grid positions, whilst the remaining positions are allocated according to Saturday’s Superpole.

The starting grid for the sprint race, in turn, mirrored the Superpole. Bulega and his Aruba team-mate Iker Lecuona, along with Bimota rider Alex Lowes, started from the front row. BMW ace Miguel Oliveira was lurking in fifth place, whilst Honda’s star rider Jake Dixon was seventh.

Lecuona got off to the best start and entered the first corner in the lead ahead of Bulega and Oliveira. Behind them, Alex Lowes (Bimota) and Yari Montella (Ducati) made contact – both fell well behind. As the rider responsible for the incident, the Italian was also handed a long-lap penalty. Surra, Axel Bassani (Bimota), Bautista and Dixon rounded off the top seven after lap 1.

When Lecuona braked far too hard in Turn 1 at the start of the third lap, Bulega took the lead. Oliveira rode safely into third place, whilst Surra and Bautista battled for fourth. Yamaha rider Xavi Vierge had fought his way up strongly to seventh place.

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At the halfway stage, Bulega remained in the lead, having extended his advantage to 1.9 seconds over Lecuona and 3.3 seconds over Oliveira with the fastest lap of the race in 1:34.525 minutes. Meanwhile, Surra, Bautista, Bassani, Vierge and Dixon were battling for fourth place.

On lap 8, Andrea Locatelli crashed out at Turn 7. His Yamaha rolled over several times off the track and was badly damaged.

After ten laps, the world champion crossed the finish line in control ahead of Lecuona to take the win. In the second half of the race, Surra had not only pulled away from Bautista but also closed the gap to Oliveira, snatching third place from the Portuguese rider on the final lap.

Oliveira, Bautista, Bassani, Vierge, Dixon and Baldassarri rounded off the top nine. This means that Ducati, BMW, Yamaha and Honda will all have at least one rider on the first three rows of the grid for the second race. Garrett Gerloff, riding the sole Kawasaki, however, only saw the chequered flag in 18th place following a mistake.