SBK Portimao Test, Day 1 times: bad weather dominates, Gerloff tops the timesheets on the Kawasaki

Tough conditions in Portimao, little on-track action: all the Superbike stars stayed in the garage. Let’s take a look at today’s not-very-meaningful standings.

Unfortunately, bad weather is disrupting the plans of the WorldSBK teams during this 2026 pre-season. Conditions were already complicated by rain at Jerez, and the same scenario has been repeated in Portimao. The ROKiT BMW Motorrad team even left Portugal to try to ride in Valencia, hoping for better weather. The others stayed at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, but on the first of the two test days there was little action on track. In the morning the asphalt was completely wet; early in the afternoon the situation improved a bit and encouraged more riders to give it a try. Then the rain returned and dashed any hope of working through to the end of today’s session.

The fastest time was set by Garrett Gerloff on the new Kawasaki ZX-10RR. The American rider completed a total of 14 laps, with a best of 1'46"262. Behind him was the Motocorsa Racing Ducati Panigale V4 R ridden by rookie Alberto Surra, 894 thousandths off the leader’s time. In third place was Philipp Oettl (+2"473), a Feel Racing rider in the World Supersport Championship. Also in the top five were Lorenzo Baldassarri (Go Eleven, 13 laps) and Jonathan Rea (Honda HRC test team, 13 laps). The times and order from this first day of Superbike testing at Portimao mean virtually nothing, although those who did go out on track will still have gathered some useful data for when conditions are difficult during the season.

Nicolò Bulega and Iker Lecuona of the Aruba.it Racing Ducati team stayed in the garage, as did the rest of the full-time SBK grid. The only one to make an attempt was Sam Lowes, who checked track conditions twice and then returned to the box.

Bimota sent out test rider Javier Fores, who with 33 laps was today’s most active rider. Honda, in addition to Rea, also used Tetsuta Nagashima: the Japanese tester completed 18 laps on the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade SP. We’ll see if Thursday, February 29, the second and final day of Superbike testing at Portimao, brings better conditions at the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve. The forecast calls for rain, so it’s hard to be optimistic.