SBK, Not Just Bulega: Surra and Montella Make History Too

Bulega takes a hat-trick, but two other Italians also made their mark at the Estoril Superbike round.

The 2026 SBK World Championship is nearing its conclusion. The penultimate round took place last weekend, and there was plenty to talk about. Nicolò Bulega’s treble of wins certainly deserves a mention: he had already secured the title at Cremona, but at Estoril he also claimed the record for most wins in a season (29). Portugal also saw two other Italian riders achieve significant results: Alberto Surra and Yari Montella.

He had already taken a podium in the Superpole Race at Cremona Circuit, but Surra went one better at Estoril: three podium finishes, all from the third step. His first hat-trick of podiums in the Superbike World Championship also marks the first for the Motocorsa Racing team, which had managed a maximum of two in a race weekend with Axel Bassani.

The Piedmontese rider, who has just renewed his contract with Lorenzo Mauri’s team, is making steady progress and is also close to mathematically clinching the Rookie of the Year title. In the overall standings, he is eighth with 179 points, while Miguel Oliveira (eleventh) has 136. It is hard to imagine the Portuguese rider from the BMW Motorrad team overtaking him at the final round in Jerez.

Surra will be looking to wrap up the 2026 SBK season by maintaining the form he showed at Estoril. It will not be easy, but the Motocorsa team wants to ride the wave of its recent success and achieve even more.

Montella has taken fourteen podiums this year, but he did not make it onto the rostrum in Portugal, and his weekend was less impressive than some of his others. He finished eighth in Race 1, thirteenth in the Superpole Race, then bounced back with a solid fourth place in Race 2. That was enough to make him the best independent rider in the 2026 SBK season and consolidate his third place in the overall standings, where he holds a 53-point lead over Alex Lowes. With 62 points still up for grabs at the final round in Jerez, the goal of securing the bronze medal looks well within reach.

It would be a historic achievement for the Barni Racing Team, which saw Danilo Petrucci ruled out through injury in 2025 just when it looked as though the feat was within reach. Montella is ready to get the job done.

Like Surra, the Campania-born rider will stay with his current team in 2027. With another year of experience on the Ducati Panigale V4 R under his belt, he will aim to improve on an already memorable 2026 season.

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