2026 Portuguese WorldSBK Friday Practice Reaction: Sam Lowes tops FP1 & FP2

Live updates from the 2026 Portuguese WorldSBK at Portimao, the second round of the 2026 season. FP2 is due to start at 15:00 local time after Sam Lowes topped FP1.

It was a relatively uneventful session this morning with only one crash, for Stefano Manzi at turn 13. There were technical issues for Sam Lowes and Iker Lecuona, but Lowes topped the session and Lecuona finished fourth.

It was a strong showing from Bimota as well. Alex Lowes was the only rider to lap in the 1m40s for most of the session but got bumped back to third late on, while Axel Bassani was sixth at the end of the session.

Nicolo Bulega leads the World Superbike championship coming into the Portuguese Round by 20 points over Axel Bassani after he won all three races in Australia last month. Bulega has never won a WorldSBK race at Portimao, but did win here in World Supersport back in 2023, and finished second in all three races last year behind Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Bassani was one of a few riders to complete a day of dry testing at Portimao earlier in March on the 13th. The Italian's Bimota team stayed on for a third day in the Algarve after the two-day test on 9-10 March was hit by rain, but Bassani spent most of the test trying new items in the KB998's development plan. His teammate, Alex Lowes, was able to focus more specifically on his race setup for this weekend during that extra test day.

BMW won all three races here last year in the hands of Toprak Razgatlioglu, who is of course no longer with the team. Miguel Oliveira, though, has said before the weekend that he wants the team to be there challenging Bulega this weekend at what is the WorldSBK rookie's home round.

Three riders were declared fit to ride this weekend on Thursday after picking up injuries previously. Two for those were sustained in Australia, for Sam Lowes and Mattia Rato, and the third rider was Somkiat Chantra who missed Australia after breaking both his arms at Sepang in January.

Jake Dixon is one rider who will not be racing this weekend as he continues to recover from the wrist injuries he sustained in testing at Phillip Island. Dixon will be replaced in the factory Honda team by HRC test rider Jonathan Rea this weekend.

One new addition to the grid in Portugal is the Superbike Advocates team and 2023 BSB Champion Tommy Bridewell. Their arrival in WorldSBK for this season was confirmed before the Australian Round, but not in time for them to make the opener, which would've been the team's home round. But they were able to test in Portimao on 9-10 March, Bridewell one of the few riders who completed laps on the second day.