#PortugueseWorldSBK Saturday Reflections

Posted March 29, 2026

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Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega. Credit: WorldSBK

An excellent atmosphere supported a brilliant race in WorldSBK at Portimão. Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Nicolò Bulega broke the all-time lap record and converted a pole to lead a great Saturday for his team despite his own feelings with the bike not at 100%. Bulega said this in the debriefs: “It’s been a good weekend so far. I struggled a bit yesterday to find the right feeling with the bike, so this morning we went back to my standard setup, and it was much better. It’s still not 100% how I want it, and in the race, I was still fighting a little in some areas, especially under braking and turning, but we did a good job. This is a good moment for me, but no one is unbeatable. I have a great feeling with the bike, with the team and with everything around me. The key now is to continue like this and keep improving. If you relax even for one second, you’re no longer fast.”

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati’s Iker Lecuona. Credits: WorldSBK

Iker Lecuona benefited from a crash of Barni Spark Racing Team’s Yari Montella, who slid out from second. Lecuona kept a consistent race and completed the 1-2 for Aruba.it Racing – Ducati marked his first podium with the team and spoke about what it meant for him and the team: “I put my focus on the performance, on the feeling on the bike. I said many times here that the future step is to feel confidence in the bike and to prepare well a base, and during the day. Honestly was so nice. The bike went really well. Sometimes we have some problems, but we understand what we need to change. The team understands what I need, and I understand what the bike needs about my style. Today was a perfect day, also for the team, you know, P1 and P2 in the Superpole, the race.”

ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team’s Miguel Oliveira. Credits: WorldSBK

ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team returned to the podium with Portugal’s own Miguel Oliveira. Oliveira became the first Portuguese rider to win in the top class in the MotoGP paddock and has now become the first Portuguese rider since Alex Vieira to take a podium since 1989, and is the first full-time Portuguese rider to finish on the podium. Oliviera said: “I’m not really a stats guy, and I tend not to look at those things too much. I think it’s nice to just be myself; it happens that I’m Portuguese. There’s not much of us around. There’s not a huge difference from MotoGP here in terms of people coming and asking for pictures of autographs because in MotoGP, we do have a lot of people in the paddock. The thing about having the podium in the paddock is special because they’re right there, and that makes, I guess, if I were a fan to see a guy that close to me for sure is fantastic, so I can only imagine how they feel.”

Race One Results