Bulega sweeps Portimao WorldSBK

Ducati star remains undefeated in 2026 as Lecuona and Oliveira take home a trio of podiums 

At the beginning of the final 20-lap WorldSBK race of the Portuguese weekend, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) took the lead from pole once again, and was chased hard in the first five laps, until a combination of passing manoeuvres from those behind behind and his own sub-1’40 pace moved him 0.8 seconds and then just over a second ahead of Iker Lecuona (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) by lap seven.

He would run out the winner by almost two seconds from Lecuona, giving Nicolo a perfect 2026 winning streak of six wins from six, including all three races at Portimao.

Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was third – his third podium of his home weekend, although Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) threatened him for much of the race, and had a try to get close enough to pass into the final corner.

Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team Ducati) would finish fifth for the third time this weekend, meaning that all three races has the same top five riders – Bulega, Lecuona, Oliveira, Alex Lowes and Sam Lowes.

Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team Goeleven Ducati) had a good ride to sixth, in a race with a whopping seven crashers or non-finishers.

Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was seventh, Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) eighth, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) ninth and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) tenth.

Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) and his team-mate Yari Montella each fell, and eventually no scored, as did Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) – the latter in the very last corner of the last lap. Jonathan Rea (Honda HRC) scored 12th place finish.

In the championship points, after six races across two rounds, Bulega leads with 124, Lecuona has 68, Bassani 60, Oliveira 56 and Alex Lowes 48.

Next round Assen, between 17-19 April.

Nicolò Bulega
“It’s a fantastic Sunday. But it wasn’t easy to achieve these results because in Friday’s free practice sessions, especially FP1, I didn’t feel like I had the best feeling. We did a great job, and I want to thank the team for that. I’m very satisfied. From tomorrow, we’ll focus on Assen.”

Iker Lecuona
“We’ve made a very important step since Australia. The team and I have a great understanding, and our goal is to improve session after session. We’re doing just that, and that gives me great confidence. It was a very rewarding weekend, and I’m very happy to have shared it with my wife Gema, my family, and my friends.”  

Miguel Oliveira
“I’m happy to be on the podium in front of my home crowd. It was special for sure to get all the crowds cheering my name and supporting BMW. That was a really, really cool moment. I am happy because it is a good start. We know that we have work ahead of us but we are motivated to work and this is a small reward for the team to show that we are heading in a good direction, that the package is working with me and we should just focus on taking out the maximum we can from ourselves, from my riding and from this bike. The weekend has been super solid, already since Saturday morning. It’s true that today I struggled much more because I used the front tyre too much. The conditions were slightly different. In race two, I had Alex Lowes behind me but I just forgot about him and did my own race. I tried not to do any mistakes and be as consistent as possible. It was just enough to come home in third. I know it’s only the second round and I feel there is some happiness but at the same time we want to achieve more. There is not any kind of pressure but we know where we want to go and we have many opportunities and many races to come. So I‘m looking forward to keep learning and keep getting the best out of the bike and myself. Now we go to Assen, a new track for BMW and me together, so hopefully we can get up to speed quickly already on Friday and and get a good job done.”

2026 WORLDSBK PORTIMAO RACE 2

2026 WORLDSBK PORTIMAO SUPERPOLE RACE

2026 WORLDSBK CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER ROUND 2