After a partial wash-out at a not-quite-truly dry Circuit de Jerez – Angel Nieto the previous week, there were a lot of riders and teams in the new-look 2026 WorldSBK lineup who had—by necessity—staked their main preseason hopes on the final European test outing at Portimao, which took place between January 28-29.
Some WorldSSP and other teams headed out on track at Portimao on the 26th and 27th, but the weather was not really playing ball on any of the available days in the hills behind the Algarve coast.
The fastest rider overall on the two main days was Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) with a 1:46.262 set on day one during a short dry-ish spell. He was still riding on a damp track, even if he set his fastest lap on slicks, so he was understandably well shy of the 1:39.081 Superpole record.
Things were so bad on the weather front that the official BMW Motorrad team broke down their entire setup and headed off to Valencia—much further to the east of the south coast of the Iberian landmass—as they had two new riders to try and get tuned into their 2026 M 1000 RR.
The bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team duo of Alex Lowes and Axel Bassani did not go out at all, leaving regular test rider Xavi Fores to go through as many wet setups and parts tests as he could.
The Barni Spark Racing Ducati team, now with two-time WorldSBK champ Alvaro Bautista alongside their sophomore rider Yari Montella, only had Montella on track at all at Portimao, with Bautista not getting out on the new Ducati V4 RS.
None of the factory or factory-supported Yamaha riders went out on track on the two scheduled test days, given the nature of the track conditions.
It was that kind of “test.”
Others, big names and teams, did go out, of course, even in the rain, with HRC Honda seeing new signing Jake Dixon and test rider Tetsuta Nagashima set several laps. Dixon was the first ranked behind the two official Aruba.it Racing Ducatis on the final fully wet day.
Nicolo Bulega was the fastest second-day rider, setting a 1:59.144, with his new teammate Iker Lecuona just 0.039 of a second adrift.
Dixon actually set the fourth fastest recorded time as well, on a different Honda machine. This being testing, there were no “second bike” restrictions to be obeyed.
New Motocorsa Racing Ducati rider Alberto Surra set the fourth-fastest day-two time.
With so few regular WorldSBK riders on board by the time the tests finished, the non-WorldSBK riders were able to make more of a literal and figurative splash.
There was a Team ERC BMW out on track, while MotoAmerica rider Cameron Beaubier (Warhorse Ducati) and BSB rider Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates Racing UK) also braved the wet track conditions.
There were some WorldSSP riders on show, with returning double champ Dominique Aegerter out before the two official days but also finding bad weather on his Kawasaki WorldSSP Team Ninja.
Philipp Oettl (Feel Racing SSP) rode in a test that was actually organized by his Feel Racing crew.
With few conclusions to be drawn from either of the pretty well washed-out Iberian winter tests, the importance of the official preseason tests at Phillip Island (scheduled for January 16-17) will be immense.CN
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