Portuguese party
The last Round at the Portimão circuit ended with the curiosity of the exact same top-5 (something that happened a total of six times), but characterized by the three doubles in one weekend by the Aruba.it-Ducati team: a feat that no team had ever achieved before in the era of three races in Superbike (in the two-race era Jonathan Rea and David Sykes did it at Misano in 2016), with the two riders from the Borgo Panigale factory always followed by the local hero Miguel Oliveira. Although he was not able to win in front of his large crowd present in the stands of the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, the BMW rider also achieved very important personal results.
Read more Official: Jonathan Rea still on track at Assen instead of Dixon
In addition to achieving his first podium in Superbike, the winner of 17 races in the MotoGP World Championship was the first Portuguese rider to achieve a top-3 result since 1989, one year after the first season in the history of SBK. In that case, it was the compatriot Alex Vieira, at the Hockenheim circuit, who obtained the first of his five career podium finishes.
Ducati dominance
In addition to the repeated doubles, Ducati and its riders achieved significant milestones on Portuguese soil: the 1-2 in Race 2 coincided with the 150th double in the history of the manufacturer, which also celebrated its 1200th podium in Superbike. All this thanks to the victories of the world championship leader Nicolò Bulega and the 2nd place finishes of teammate Iker Lecuona, who brought Spain to its 250th podium. Lecuona, moreover, had not been on the podium since 2024, when he achieved a similar result also in Portugal, but in that case at Estoril.
Read more Alex Lowes: “Bulega? On a Honda, he wouldn’t win”
Always in the points zone
Having taken to the track with Honda replacing the injured Jake Dixon, Jonathan Rea returned to race despite announcing his retirement at the end of 2025. Although he was not the author of a brilliant race, the six-time world champion still achieved a points finish. Throughout his career, the Northern Irishman has always scored at least one point in all 19 seasons he has competed in Superbike.
