2026 Portuguese WorldSBK: Sam Lowes sweeps Friday practices in Portimao

Results from the FP2 session at the 2026 Portuguese WorldSBK at Portimao, the second round of the 2026 season.

Sam Lowes repeated his result from Friday morning in FP2, topping the session. This time he was the only rider to lap in the 1m39s which put him over 0.2 seconds clear of Nicolo Bulega.

Bulega's second place also matched his FP1 results, but his pace was supreme with numerous laps in succession all in the low-1m40s.

Yari Montella made it a Ducati 1-2-3, while Iker Lecuona secured an all-Ducati top-four despite being one of four riders to go down at turn five.

The others were Bahattin Sofuoglu, Tommy Bridewell, and Alvaro Bautista, the latter being able to get back out at the end of the session and set a time good enough for Ducati to lock out the top-five.

Axel Bassani was the first non-Ducati rider in sixth on the Bimota, while Alex Lowes was seventh and the only rider in the top-10 to not improve on his best time from FP1.

Miguel Oliveira, Lorenzo Baldassarri, and Xavi Vierge completed the top-10.

Full World Superbike results from FP2 in Portugal are below.

FP1

Sam Lowes topped the FP1 session in Portimao despite being the last rider to set a lap time owing to a reported electrical issue, as reported by the WorldSBK international TV feed.

Lowes was just 0.004 seconds ahead of Nicolo Bulega in FP1, the Italian having been outside the top-three for much of the session before finding time in the final few minutes.

Alex Lowes topped the session for the opening 40 minutes thanks to a 1m40.442s lap time. But the British rider never improved on that and was overhauled at the end, but ended third anyway.

Iker Lecuona suffered a technical issue on-track after just over 10 minutes of the session, but got back out in the second half of FP1 and finished fourth-fastest, just ahead of Yari Montella who was a fourth Ducati rider in the top-five. Axel Bassani completed the top-six on the second Bimota.

Garrett Gerloff had a strong session on the Kawasaki in seventh, while Xavi Vierge was the last rider to lap in the 1.40s bracket in eighth. Danilo Petrucci and Miguel Oliveira completed the top-10.

There was only one crash in the session, that coming at turn 13 for Stefano Manzi who finished FP1 down in 20th.

Jonathan Rea could only manage 17th in his first competitive session back as Honda (test) rider. His teammate for this weekend, Somkiat Chantra, was 19th.

Tommy Bridewell is taking part in his first race weekend of the season in Portimao after the Superbike Advocates team made the late decision to do WorldSBK instead of BSB this year. Bridewell was 13th in his first session.

Full World Superbike results from FP1 in Portugal are below.

Portimao WorldSBK Lap Records

• All-time lap record: 1m39.081s (Toprak Razgatlioglu, 2025, Superpole)
• Race lap record: 1m39.441 (Toprak Razgatlioglu, 2025, Superpole Race)