Miguel Oliveira (4th) brought BMW back within striking distance of the podium

Miguel Oliveira has already finished third on the podium four times in the 2026 Superbike World Championship. The Portuguese rider achieved three of these at his home race in Portimão. Recently, however, the BMW rider has been going through a tough patch and has slipped to 11th in the overall standings.

Things are looking up again at his second home race, though: fourth on Friday, fifth in Superpole, and in the first race at the Circuito do Estoril, the 31-year-old powered home in fourth place. At times, Oliveira even looked as though he might challenge Ducati privateer Alberto Surra for third place on the podium.

“We weren’t far off. I just couldn’t get close enough to Surra to put him under pressure. When I was only about a second behind him, I made a mistake with the engine mapping – I ended up in rain mode and had to click my way back to the normal mapping. I’m sure I lost 0.6 seconds doing that, and I was too far behind him again,” explained the BMW works rider to a small group of journalists. “After that, I managed the gaps as best I could and also kept an eye on the front tyre, especially as Alex was putting a lot of pressure on from behind. The podium was already within reach, but at a certain point I had to focus more on the riders behind me than on Alberto. We’ll try again on Sunday.”

When Oliveira stormed into the top three at Portimão, there was a real festival atmosphere in the stands. However, Oliveira, who hails from Almada near Lisbon, also received plenty of applause for his performance despite finishing fourth.

“On the one hand, it’s a bit frustrating when you’ve just missed out on a podium place. But after a few difficult races, I’m also happy to have picked up these points. The fact that we’re in Portugal makes it even a bit more special,” said the family man. “At the rear, I’m lacking a bit of stability coming out of corners – we haven’t quite got the electronics right yet. I’ve told my crew that we absolutely must look into this using the data from this race. If we want to consistently be in contention for podium places, we need to sort out these small details, because that’s what matters. We need to make up time where we’re struggling with the bike. If the bike’s handling is better, we’ll have a bit more in the tank.”

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11.10.2026 - 11:55