Bulega wins Estoril Superbike race 1 as Oliveira finishes fourth for BMW

Bulega wins the opener

Nicolò Bulega (Ducati) won race 1 of the penultimate round of the World Superbike Championship at Estoril on Saturday, completing 21 laps in 33:34.620 minutes. His Ducati teammate Iker Lecuona finished second, 3.870 seconds back, and Alberto Surra (Ducati, Motocorsa) took third, 9.668 seconds behind the winner, giving Ducati the entire podium. Lecuona led the first two laps before Bulega moved into the lead on the third lap and held it to the chequered flag. Bulega also set a new race lap record of 1:34.964. The win was his 27th of the season, equalling the single-season record that Álvaro Bautista set in 2023, when he needed 36 races, while Bulega reached the mark in 31. Bulega had already secured the title at the previous round in Italy.

After the race, Bulega said:

Now that I have won the championship, I can ride with more freedom.

Oliveira finishes fourth at home

Miguel Oliveira (BMW) started fifth on the grid and finished fourth, 11.444 seconds behind Bulega and 1.776 seconds short of the podium. He was the best-placed BMW rider, while his teammate Danilo Petrucci finished 18th, outside the scoring positions. Oliveira finished 1.305 seconds ahead of Alex Lowes (Bimota), who took fifth. It is the first time Oliveira has raced at Estoril in 14 years, since his Moto3 days, and the result was the best of his Superbike debut season at a home-soil round. His best lap of 1:35.605 was just faster than Surra's 1:35.608, a gap of three thousandths of a second.

The result earned Oliveira 13 points, lifting him one place to 11th in the championship with 122 points and passing Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha), who finished 16th with 118. Oliveira is 10 points behind 10th-placed Álvaro Bautista, who finished ninth in the race. Oliveira reflected on the result in the press conference after the race:

The fact that we are in Portugal makes this result even more special. I could also have had this result in Cremona, perhaps not in fourth place but something similar, a top five was possible. That is why I am looking forward to seeing what tomorrow [Sunday] will bring us.

Championship standings

Bulega now has 627 points in the championship, ahead of Lecuona with 489 and Yari Montella (Ducati) in third with 277. Montella finished eighth in Saturday's race. Oliveira's championship position reflects a debut season in which he took three third-place finishes at Portimão in round two. Oliveira's stated ambition for the weekend is to finish in the top five.

Friday practice and the weekend ahead

In practice on Friday, Oliveira was tenth in the first session and fourth in the second, a pattern the BMW rider carried into the race. The round at Estoril is the eleventh and penultimate round of the season. Sunday's schedule includes the Superpole race at 11:10 and the second main race at 15:30. Bulega is 3.870 seconds clear of his teammate in the opener, and the second main race will give Oliveira another chance to test his pace against the Ducati riders at home.