SBK Estoril, FP1: Young Alberto Surra upstaged the Ducati works duo

Estoril is enjoying glorious autumn weather with temperatures around 20 degrees Celsius, and it is set to remain that way over the coming days. Of the 22 regular Superbike riders, the only one missing is Ducati privateer Tarran Mackenzie, who suffered a serious crash at his home race at Donington Park in July. As the races at Estoril and Jerez are taking place on consecutive weekends, and the Briton has not yet received medical clearance to return, Frenchman Loris Baz is stepping in and will finish the season with the MGM team.

At the start of the first 45-minute Superbike practice session on Friday at 10.20 am local time – Portugal is one hour behind CET – the air temperature was 20 degrees Celsius and the track temperature was 25 degrees. After 13 minutes, world champion Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) set the first notable fastest time of 1:35.689, putting him almost 4/10 of a second ahead of the runner-up. By way of comparison: Toprak Razgatlioglu (BMW) has held the pole position record since 2025 with a time of 1:34.203; Bulega set the fastest race lap in the Sprint that same year in 1:34.973.

At the halfway stage, the top 10 were within 1 second of each other, with six of the top eight riding Ducatis. Up to that point, only Alex Lowes (Bimota) and local hero Miguel Oliveira (BMW) had managed to break into the mix. In the final 10 minutes, the field was thoroughly shaken up, largely depending on who was chasing fast lap times on a new rear tyre and who wasn’t. Bulega improved his time to 1:35.546 – a time no one else could match.

With five minutes to go, lone Kawasaki rider Garrett Gerloff crashed and ultimately finished eleventh. Ducati privateer Alberto Surra from the Motocorsa team catapulted himself into second place shortly before the end of the session, thereby splitting the Aruba duo of Bulega and Lecuona in first and third places. Bimota works rider Alex Lowes, in fourth, is already over half a second off the pace, whilst Xavier Vierge secured fifth place for the best-placed Yamaha. Next comes a Ducati quartet comprising Alvaro Bautista, Sam Lowes, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Yari Montella. BMW ace Oliveira rounds off the top 10.

Topic of the week

A stuttering start to the Bahrain Grand Prix: the FIA narrowly avoids a fiasco like the one in Indianapolis in 2005

Fans could hardly believe their eyes at what they witnessed at the Bahrain Grand Prix: cars crawling along, racing cars that simply came to a standstill. The FIA narrowly avoided a fiasco like the one at Indy in 2005.

Read More

TV Program

Today

Estoril: 2. Freies Training

FIM Superbike World Championship

09.10.2026 - 15:55