Foul weather in Portugal: Superbike risks a complete washout

The Superbike World Championship had been eagerly awaiting the four days of testing split between Jerez and Portimão. But the rain ruined plans in Andalusia, and now teams and riders are heading into even worse conditions in Portugal.

In Jerez, over two days, slick tires were used for only two hours, in the early afternoon of the second and final day. The track, moreover, wasn’t even completely dry and had several damp patches, so many riders ended up on the ground, including Ducati men Nicolò Bulega and Iker Lecuona, who both crashed without injury at the same Turn 5. In the end, the scheduled tests in Andalusia amounted to nothing.

The paddock has already moved to Portimão, just 300 kilometers away. However, the Portuguese forecast shows very critical conditions for Wednesday the 28th and Thursday the 29th, the two planned days. There’s talk of a very high chance of rain and strong winds, a particularly troublesome factor on the Algarve rollercoaster packed with fast sweepers and sudden line changes. Temperatures are also set to plunge with the arrival from Northern Europe of the Ingrid cyclonic system. The only positive aspect: the intense cold, with even some snowfall, should arrive from Thursday afternoon, when the work ought to be done. But the possibility that rain ruins plans again is very real.

Teams and riders risk landing in Australia for the season opener (February 20–22) with very few kilometers under their belt. The biggest issues are for those trialing substantial updates, like Ducati, and for new bike-rider pairings. In Jerez, the Red team continued testing the new Panigale V4 R, which features a double-sided swingarm. With such a major chassis change, Bulega and Lecuona need lots of long-run testing, primarily to assess tire behavior. The situation is even tougher for Ducati’s customer riders, like Alvaro Bautista: the three-time World Champion also has to get in sync with Barni Racing’s working methods, having been a full factory rider throughout his Superbike career so far.

This highly unsettled January is a sword of Damocles for BMW’s new duo, Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira. As if the pressure left by Toprak Razgatlioglu (2 World Championships and 39 wins in 2024–25...) weren’t enough, there’s also the inability to gain experience on the M1000RR—“a super-competitive bike, but one you need to really get to know well,” Petrux keeps repeating. Work is also badly delayed for Jake Dixon, who is making his Superbike debut and must quickly get to grips with the temperamental CBR-RR, a project that never took off and in recent years gave plenty of headaches to Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge. Alberto Surra, making his Superbike debut with Motocorsa, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Go Eleven Ducati), and Supersport World Champion Stefano Manzi, promoted to the top class by Yamaha, also desperately need track time. The trio of Italian newcomers will be scanning the skies, hoping for a few breaks of sunshine to smile on them.