SBK Estoril, Practice 1: Incredible Bulega, but the youngster surges ahead

The atmosphere at Estoril feels like the end of the beach season, when you get the sense that the best has already passed. Nicolò Bulega won the World Championship with two rounds to spare, and in these final scraps the Superbike series will be viewed mainly through the lens of 2027. That is when the current dominator will be busy on the golden shores of MotoGP.

The newly crowned champion is so strong, and Ducati so far ahead of the rest, that the top spot now seems carved in stone. In the opening session at the circuit overlooking the Ocean, he immediately posted a 1'35"546, naturally faster than everyone else. So far, Iker Lecuona is missing from the equation, having conceded more than three tenths: the battle between the two teammates should be the main attraction of this weekend, but the Spaniard will need to wake up properly...

The pleasant surprise of this appetizer was Alberto Surra's leopard-like leap forward. The 22-year-old Motocorsa privateer launched his Panigale V4 R to within just 52 thousandths of leader Bulega. The Lombardy rider has never raced here in Superbike, but knows Estoril well from his days in the feeder classes, including Moto2, which served as his training ground. His first podium is now in the archives, and the bar is rising for the youngster making his World Championship debut: who knows, perhaps he can cause the red hordes a few headaches here. This would be quite a story.

Superbike is pushing Miguel Oliveira hard as a flag-bearer for Portuguese sport: at the start of the season in Portimao, he drew a large crowd, and the hope is that fans will turn out on this occasion too. In the meantime, Estoril's Turn 7 has been named after him, in a ceremony that attracted an army of motorcyclists, escorted by the five-time MotoGP race winner. Now a standout performance would be needed to set the enthusiasm alight, but FP1 offered none of the hoped-for signs. Miguel Oliveira parked the factory BMW in 10th place, almost a second behind the increasingly untouchable Ducatis. On the same bike, Danilo Petrucci is 17th. BMW tested here in August, over two days somewhat hampered by bad weather. Other teams were there too, but the benefit of that testing is not showing.

Meanwhile, the 2027 pieces are beginning to fall rapidly into place. Motocorsa has officially confirmed Alberto Surra, as had already been anticipated for some time. At Barni Racing, Xavi Vierge will replace Alvaro Bautista, who at 41 is putting himself forward as a tester: he could interest the two Chinese giants waiting in the wings, namely CFMoto or ZXMoto, although the latter has announced plans to develop a five-cylinder Superbike that, under the current World Championship regulations, cannot race. The maximum number of cylinders is four. However, with the new rules announced this week, the five-cylinder machine would be allowed in the British Superbike Championship.

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