Miguel Oliveira: BMW WorldSBK history at Balaton Park “uplifting”

BMW were three-times winners at the Hungarian WorldSBK last year and Miguel Oliveira hopes that is a sign that the M1000 RR has good potential at the track.

The BMW was taken to those three wins last year by Toprak Razgatlioglu during the Turkish rider’s 13-race win streak in the middle of the season. Incidentally, that record is up for grabs this weekend, Nicolo Bulega needing to win Race 1 in order to take his current victory run to 14 races.

For Oliveira, though, the BMW past is more important than Bulega’s present as the Portuguese tries to rebound from a Dutch Round two weeks ago that was especially challenging, Oliveira being unable to get in the top-six of any of the three races.

“For sure, we arrive here recharged, full of energy to take on Balaton Park,” said Miguel Oliveira, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“It’s uplifting to look at last year’s results and see that the bike works well here. Our job is to have it work from the very start in FP1. 

“We will see what we can do, but the goal is to remain in the top five. 

“If we manage that, we’ll have a good weekend.”

He continued: “I think it’s been quite a solid start to the season. We’re past the two most difficult tracks for the bike, so I hope we can be more consistently near the top from here.”

Oliveira added that he had a good experience at Balaton in MotoGP last year, despite the 12th place on the results sheet seeming fairly underwhelming.

“Last year in MotoGP, this track was a good turning point for me,” he said.

“I had a good race; it was difficult to manage with the longer MotoGP bike, and it was difficult to stop the bike on the short straights, but we ended with a really positive weekend.”

Petrucci: The most difficult tracks are behind us

For Danilo Petrucci, the Dutch Round was not much better in terms of overall performance than the previous two rounds in Australia and Portugal, but the Italian was faster than Oliveira for the first time this season.

The Italian also had decent results in Balaton during last year's World Superbike round, finishing in the top-five in the two long races, which were also the only two dry races, and he thinks BMW is now through the worst of its tracks for this season.

“I’m happy to race again, especially with this bike,” Petrucci told WorldSBK.com ahead of the 2026 Hungarian Round. 

“The two most difficult tracks for us, Phillip Island and Assen, are both behind us. 

“At Assen, I felt quite good, but in the races, we were unable to keep our position; from my point of view, I was riding quite well. 

“I think the BMW will work quite well here. Last year, I did an incredible job in Race 1, starting from last position and finishing P5, which could have been a podium. 

“We struggled a bit at the beginning of this season with the lack of testing. Then, at Portimao, I tried to change my riding style on the bike, but we realised it wasn’t the right approach. 

“Assen showed progress, and we’re feeling positive because the results are coming. At the moment we’re going upwards, I want to consolidate that in Hungary.”