WSBK Estoril, Free Practice 2: Bulega vs Lecuona, but there’s a dangerous third contender

It was widely predictable that in Portugal we would witness yet another intra-Ducati duel between Nicolò Bulega and Iker Lecuona. But there is an unexpected twist on the menu this weekend: 22-year-old Alberto Surra has inserted himself between the two factory riders. It happened in both Friday sessions, so this is no flash in the pan. Races are another matter, but for now we can enjoy watching this rookie in the premier class blossom into a true star.

Alberto Surra claimed the first podium of his career at Cremona two weeks ago. Results bring confidence, and his performance can also be explained by the excellent technical package provided by Motocorsa, a small team from Lecco that previously helped develop Axel Bassani, now a factory Bimota rider. The sporting miracle is repeating itself, so rider and team were absolutely right to renew their partnership for 2027. Surra could become a wonderful story: Superbike is eagerly awaiting the big names arriving from MotoGP, yet the rider who may generate the most buzz could already be right here at home.

To get within a few thousandths of Bulega, the third man may have used the SCQ qualifying tyre, but that is not certain, because in his final run he completed three blisteringly fast laps, with the last one cancelled due to the yellow flag caused by Remy Gardner’s crash. At T3, Surra was 16 thousandths ahead of Bulega: it is a shame we did not get to see how it would have ended.

Miguel Oliveira is eagerly awaited by the Portuguese fans, but in FP1 he had stalled in tenth place. In the afternoon, during the more representative session because it was held at the time of the long races, he climbed to fourth, four tenths behind the Ducati trio. At a circuit like Estoril, that is no small gap: beating the Ducatis, as Toprak Razgatlioglu used to do, appears beyond reach, but it is obvious that Oliveira is dreaming of the race of his life here. This weekend, which we feared might bore us, is instead giving us plenty of reasons not to miss the three scheduled races. The Bimota is also in the top ten, with Axel Bassani setting the fifth-fastest time, and even the Honda HRC is there, courtesy of Jake Dixon’s eighth-fastest lap.

Pirelli is approaching the end of its tenure as Superbike supplier, and for this penultimate round it has brought exactly the same allocation as last year. The teams have the ultrasoft SCQ available for qualifying and the Superpole Race, while for the two long-distance races they can choose between the SCX (soft) and SC0 (medium). Remember that only four SCQ tyres are available, two of which are required for qualifying. For all other sessions, riders have eight tyres of each specification. Michelin will take over as the sole supplier next year.

The 2027 Superbike tests will begin at Jerez immediately after this edition of the World Championship concludes, when the new riders arriving from MotoGP will still be busy. The first opportunity to see them on track will be during the session scheduled for December 9–10 in Valencia, a circuit returning to the calendar next year. On that occasion, Jack Miller will be there with Yamaha, Brad Binder with BMW, and Franco Morbidelli on the Ducati vacated by Nicolò Bulega. After the Christmas break, the teams will resume testing in the second half of January, first at Jerez and then once again in Valencia.

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