Xavi Vierge (Yamaha): 21 laps, just as in qualifying, for a top-10 finish

Xavi Vierge already had his contract for the 2027 Superbike World Championship with Barni Ducati in the bag when he travelled to Estoril for the penultimate round of the season. Nevertheless, the Spaniard wanted to bid farewell to Yamaha in style and deliver the best possible results.

To his credit, the 29-year-old certainly succeeded in doing so. Whether finishing 10th on Friday, 13th in Superpole or 13th, 7th and 9th in the races – it was always Vierge who flew the Yamaha flag!

“It’s a fact that we’re lacking a bit of speed. Everyone is so fast – our pace isn’t bad, but it’s not quite enough to fight for a better position,” said the Pata Maxus works rider. “After what was, on the whole, a difficult weekend, we showed significantly more pace on Sunday. The team worked so hard, and we tried a change in the warm-up that took me a step in the right direction. I’m really happy that I showed good pace over the 10 laps in the Superpole Race – I was able to take a big step forward in race pace compared to Saturday.”

Willkommen in Estoril

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Miguel Oliveira

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alberto Surra

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lorenzo Baldassarri

Foto: Gold & Goose

Alex Lowes

Foto: Gold & Goose

Iker Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Jake Dixon

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Miguel Oliveira

Foto: Gold & Goose

Axel Bassani

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lorenzo Baldassarri

Foto: Gold & Goose

Álvaro Bautista

Foto: Gold & Goose

Nicolò Bulega gewinnt beide Läufe in Estoril

Foto: Gold & Goose

Bulega und Lecuona

Foto: Gold & Goose

Lecuona, Bulega, Surra

Foto: Gold & Goose

Sieger Nicolò Bulega

Foto: Gold & Goose

Yari Montella

Foto: Gold & Goose

Willkommen in Estoril

© Gold & Goose

In the second race, the Catalan rider prevailed against Jake Dixon (Honda) and Tommy Bridewell (Ducati), amongst others. To do so, however, Vierge had to dig deep into his bag of tricks.

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

Live

Jerez: 1. Freies Training

FIM Superbike World Championship

16.10.2026 - 10:30

“I knew it would be a tight affair over the 21 laps, as I had to ride every single lap as I did in qualifying. But I gave it a go, got off to a good start and was in a strong group,” explained the Yamaha rider. “As I said, I squeezed everything I could out of the tyres and then tried to bring the bike home in the best possible position. It’s certainly not the result we’d hoped for – the gap to the front is still too big – but it looks as though we’ve found something, and I hope that over the next few days we can learn from this and see if we can make a few more minor adjustments to have more options at Jerez and finish the season on a high.”