Two race crashes for Miguel Oliveira: Cremona a bitter pill for BMW

Following some thoroughly solid results in the first half of the 2026 World Superbike Championship season, things haven’t been going BMW’s way recently – at Donington Park and Magny-Cours, Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci even failed to make the top 10! Cremona was set to mark a turning point. The ROKiT works team pinned their hopes on the introduction of a new swingarm, which is designed to deliver more consistent performance over a race distance.

The test team’s work paid off, with the Portuguese rider in particular taking a step forward. Finishing ninth in Superpole, Oliveira was just 0.1 seconds slower than World Championship fourth-placed rider Alex Lowes (Bimota). In the races, however, eighth place in the Superpole Race was his best – and only – finish: the 31-year-old crashed in both main races.

“Cremona was a bitter pill to swallow, especially the second race,” admitted Oliveira. “We had really good pace and a good starting position to secure an excellent result. Unfortunately, I applied the rear brake a bit too hard in Turn 10, got some chattering and couldn’t recover. It’s frustrating, but I think we’re in a better position now than we were after Magny-Cours, and that’s a positive start. We’re leaving Cremona with more pace, better performance and a more positive attitude. The result doesn’t reflect everything we achieved this weekend.”

Willkommen zum Rennen in Cremona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Fans

Foto: Gold & Goose

Sam und Alex Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Iker Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Jake Dixon

Foto: Gold & Goose

Garrett Gerloff

Foto: Gold & Goose

Das Bike von Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Axel Bassani

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alex Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Xavi Vierge

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alberto Surra

Foto: Gold & Goose

Jake Dixon

Foto: Gold & Goose

Andrea Locatelli

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Sam Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Axel Bassani

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Andrea Locatelli

Foto: Gold & Goose

Iker Lecuona gewinnt beide Läufe in Cremona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega ist Superbike-Weltmeister 2026

Foto: Gold & Goose

Weltmeister Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lauf 1 - Nicolò Bulega, Iker Lecuona, Sam Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lauf 2 - Nicolò Bulega, Iker Lecuona, Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Cremona-Sieger Iker Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Weltmeister Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Willkommen zum Rennen in Cremona

© Gold & Goose

However, the full story is this: when Oliveira crashed on lap 12 of Saturday’s race whilst in 10th place, he was already 17 seconds off the pace. The second race was effectively over by the second lap.

Topic of the week

Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madring: track – hit or miss?

The people of Madrid had set their sights high for their city’s first Formula 1 World Championship race since 1981. But have the high expectations for the new Madring mixed-circuit track really been met?

Mathias Brunner

Read More

TV Program

Live

Estoril: 1. Freies Training

FIM Superbike World Championship

09.10.2026 - 11:15

“With Miguel, we could have achieved top-five finishes had it not been for the crashes,” says Head of Motorsport Sven Blusch with conviction. “Now we must continue to work on ensuring he can translate this into results. The most important thing is that both riders are looking ahead again. That gives the whole team a boost, but we also know that there is still a lot of work ahead of us.”