Nicolo Bulega cruised to a dominant victory in Race 1 of WorldSBK in Portimao to extend his 2026 dominance.
He maintained the holeshot from pole position into the swooping Turn 1, followed by Yari Montella and Lecuona.
The lead Ducatis stretched out to a 1.1s advantage over home hero Oliveira by Lap 2, as the battle for fourth consisted of himself, Bimota’s Alex Lowes, and Yamaha’s Xavi Vierge.
In the early laps, Bulega looked measured out front on his bid to secure a fourth consecutive race win, setting back-to-back fastest laps on Lap 3 and Lap 4, respectively.
But the gap to Montella in second was only 0.6s as the race reached five laps, though on the following lap, he crashed out at Turn 14 before later rejoining.
This promoted BMW’s Oliveira up to third, with the Lowes brothers in hot pursuit after Sam overtook Vierge in the fight for fifth place.
There was limited racing on track, but WorldSBK’s newest rookie Tommy Bridewell crashed out of proceedings at Turn 14.
As the race began to take shape, the fight for sixth was one of the standout battles, involving Vierge, Axel Bassani and Garrett Gerloff.
Bassani overtook Vierge before Gerloff spotted an opening at the sweeping right-hander to snatch seventh. Vierge tried to retaliate immediately, but no move materialised just yet.
Bassani and Gerloff stretched a one-second lead over Vierge from Lap 13 to Lap 15, before the American rider swooped past Bassani on Lap 16.
Vierge then stormed his way through past Bassani down the start-finish straight on Lap 18, before re-overtaking Gerloff on Lap 19.
Out front, Bulega and Lecuona continued to control proceedings, though BMW’s Oliveira showed his skill to stay within touching distance despite his inferior package.
The leading pair were separated by two seconds as they delivered a 1–2 for the Bologna manufacturer, with Bulega securing his fourth consecutive victory of the 2026 season.
Lecuona secured his first podium with the factory Ducati team since joining for the 2026 season.
Oliveira secured third on the BMW, marking his first in Bavarian colours, having ended up finishing 4.8s behind.
Alex and Sam Lowes finished fourth and fifth, respectively, finishing ahead of Pata Maxus Yamaha rider Vierge.
Garrett Gerloff claimed seventh for Kawaski after fending off a late charge from Bimota’s Bassani.
Alvaro Bautista secured ninth place for Barni Spark Racing, as Danilo Petrucci rounded off the top 10 for BMW.
Lorenzo Baldassarri crossed the line in 11th place, defeating Yamaha’s Andrea Locatellli and Remy Gardner.
Tarran Mackenzie secured 14th on the MGM Ducati, closely followed by Alberto Surra.
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