SBK, is Miguel Oliveira also on the market? 'I can win'

BMW is experiencing a season unlike previous ones; the absence of Razgatlioglu is being felt, but in the garage there are those convinced they can win with the right equipment.

Over the past two years, BMW had won every Superbike race at Misano Adriatico thanks to a phenomenal Toprak Razgatlioglu. But the Turk decided to move to MotoGP, and the Anglo-German team restarted with Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci. In Emilia-Romagna, the Portuguese rider returned after the injury sustained at Balaton Park, while Petrux is present but unable to race; he should be back at Donington Park. This weekend, Michael van der Mark is still riding one of the M 1000 RRs.

In Race 1, the best BMW rider was Oliveira himself, who started from the eleventh spot on the grid and finished eighth at the line. Considering his less-than-perfect physical condition, it’s not a bad result. Van der Mark, on the other hand, retired a few laps from the end due to a technical problem while holding fifteenth place. A completely different story compared to the triumphs delivered by Razgatlioglu in the 2024–2025 two-year period.

Although he wants to fight for much better positions, Oliveira summed up the first SBK race of the weekend in Italy as overall positive: "I feel better; it was a good gym session, with 30 degrees and the pain. I felt like I was in a Rocky Balboa training camp. It was a tough race to manage; I had vibrations from the start that almost forced me to retire, so you can imagine what it was like. I tried to keep going, slightly dropped my pace to see if I could hold my position, and that’s what happened. I can’t be happy with P8, finishing so far from the front, but today that’s fine."

The next round will be in England on the July 10–12 weekend, and the BMW rider’s goal is to be in better shape so he can go for results different from those he has to accept at Misano: "I hope to be well at Donington; I think I have enough time to be ready. The last time I raced there was in 2008 and it was in the wet, a great experience. I was in the Red Bull Rookies Cup and I won the race; I have good memories. I hope to be close to 100% at Donington."

In the overall standings he is ninth with 93 points, 54 behind third place held by Yari Montella, but the Portuguese isn’t focused on that: "I don’t even know how many points I have right now," he commented. "It would be nice to finish the championship in third place, why not? But I’ll take it race by race; at the moment the standings are secondary for me. I’m not interested in the final position."

Petrucci isn’t just putting in an appearance at Misano; he’s also observing the M 1000 RR’s behavior from trackside to provide his impressions: "It was definitely interesting," Oliveira commented. "I did the same at Aragon. We’ve confirmed what we need on the bike, namely to improve cornering, braking, and stability. These are the key areas."

Finally, there had to be a question about the future, a topic on which the 31-year-old from Almada couldn’t say much: "Unfortunately, over the past month I haven’t been at the races, and I hope things will be clearer in the coming weeks. My potential is to win races, and I want to fulfill my potential. We’ll see."

His contract with BMW is for one year, but there’s also an option for 2027. The team has already hinted that they want to confirm both him and Petrucci, opting for continuity to try to further develop the M 1000 RR. However, until the contracts are signed, it’s reasonable for Miguel to consider other potential opportunities as well. He sees himself as a top rider and wants a winning bike. Today, Ducati is the benchmark, and he certainly wouldn’t mind taking Nicolò Bulega’s seat in the factory team, though at the moment other names seem to be under consideration. The feeling is that he will ultimately stay with BMW, which also guarantees him a good salary.