DID YOU MISS IT? A rollercoaster weekend as Championship contenders duelled it out at Portimao
WorldSBK headed to the undulating Portuguese circuit for the second round of the season, and it delivered three epic battles
The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship hit the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve and it was a wild ride on motorsport’s most famous rollercoaster. There were three epic duels between Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), with the biggest margin between the pair just two tenths. Elsewhere, rivalries ignited, and milestones were matched and then beaten during a historic Pirelli Portuguese Round.
FRIDAY’S ACTION: Razgatlioglu misses FP1, tops FP2; Oncu’s first pole and WorldSSP300 returns
The weekend got off to a terrible start for reigning Champion Razgatlioglu, with the #1 forced to sit out of Free Practice 1 due to a technical gremlin on his M 1000 RR machine. It didn’t impact him across the weekend as he obliterated the lap record and in Tissot Superpole and claimed a treble, but it’s not an ideal way to start a weekend. WorldSSP was back in action as Turkish star Can Oncu (Yamaha BLU CRU Evan Bros Team) claimed a maiden pole in the Championship, while it was also the start of the 2025 season for WorldSSP300 and rookie Benat Fernandez (Team#109 Retro Traffic Kove) stunned in Superpole to claim P1.
RIVALRIES RAMP UP: a war of words between Bautista and Redding, Vickers crashes at Turn 9
The day started with a big crash for Ryan Vickers (Motocorsa Racing) over the crest and heading into Turn 9, with the Brit’s bike getting a huge wobble on and the #17 unable to keep it under control, eventually highsiding off his machine; thankfully, he was okay bar a deep cut to his elbow. Razgatlioglu and Bulega had their first of many scraps at Portimao in Race 1, with just 0.067s separating the pair at the line, but behind, a rivalry was taken to a new level: after Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) and Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) collided at Turn 4 on Lap 1, each gave their view of the incident as the rhetoric went to a new level. In WorldSSP, Oncu converted pole into his first Yamaha victory while two-time Champion Jeffrey Buis (Freudenberg KTM-Paligo Racing) started his WorldSSP300 campaign with a strategic victory.
TWO MORE THRILLING BATTLES: last lap fights the order of Sunday’s action
Sunday’s two races brought more of the same for Razgatlioglu and Bulega, with ‘El Turco’ beating ‘Bulegas’ in both races. In the 10-lap Tissot Superpole Race, the gap between the duo was just 0.055s as Razgatlioglu just denied one of his title rivals victory at the very end of the race. In Race 2, the pair battled hard again over the 11-lap restarted distance, including six changes of positions across just a couple of laps. Perhaps it was giving a glimpse of how a potential title fight will unfold in 2025… Looking at WorldSSP, Bo Bendsneyder (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) took his first win in any series in almost 10 years as Oncu crashed from the lead, while rookie Fernandez claimed victory in WorldSSP300 after a chaotic last lap.
NEXT UP: the ‘Cathedral of Speed’ as WorldSBK heads north!
Just a couple of weeks after the thrills of Portimao, WorldSBK will be back in action as it heads to another iconic venue. This time, the TT Circuit Assen. Nicknamed the ‘Cathedral of Speed’, the circuit is historic across two-wheeled motorsport and is always good value for a shock – who could forget Nicholas Spinelli’s victory in Race 1 last year? Expect more close racing in the Netherlands as Razgatlioglu looks to overturn a 29-point deficit after kickstarting his title challenge properly at Portimao.
DON’T MISS OUT! Get your tickets for the Pirelli Dutch Round right HERE!
