2026 Portuguese WorldSBK: Nicolo Bulega dominates as Oliveira takes first podium

Results from Race 1 at the 2026 Portuguese WorldSBK at Portimao, the second round of the 2026 season.

Nicolo Bulega won from pole position for the fourth time this season in Race 1 at Portimao. The Italian made the holeshot and was never seriously challenged by those behind, winning by 2.5 seconds in the end.

Iker Lecuona was able to lap faster than his teammate on a couple of occasions throughout the race, but ultimately was never able to do so consistently enough to get into position to mount a serious attack. On the other hand, his pace was strong enough to keep Miguel Oliveira behind him and maintain third place.

Oliveira himself was fourth in the early stages of the race, but gained a position when Yari Montella crashed out of second at turn 14 on lap five. Third place marks the Portuguese's first podium in WorldSBK since joining BMW for this season.

Alex Lowes looked early on to be in podium contention, but ended up dropping over four seconds behind Oliveira by the finish. He was also three seconds ahead of Sam Lowes in fifth.

Behind, Xavi Vierge ran in sixth for much of the race, then dropped to eighth behind Axel Bassani and Garrett Gerloff, but ultimately recovered those positions to score his first points as a Yamaha rider in sixth place.

Gerloff ended up seventh, beating Bassani on the Bimota, while Alvaro Bautista and Danilo Petrucci rounded out the top-10.

Montella got back on his Barni Ducati after his crash and got back to 16th by the finish.

Tommy Bridewell was the only retirement after he crashed at turn 14.

Full World Superbike results from Superpole are below.