World champion Nicolo Bulega completed a stunning hat trick of WorldSBK victories at Estoril as he claimed a dominant victory in Race 2.
Bulega had lost the race lead on the start, but responded later on the first lap to take command of Race 2 and pull away into an eventual victory.
Polesitter Bulega got a good initial launch off the line, but Iker Lecuona was the bravest on the brakes as he took the lead of the race at the first corner. Meanwhile, Oliveira looked to make a good start from the second row of the grid to take third.
However, the progress at the front of the grid was undone quickly into the second half of the opening lap, as Bulega retook the lead by tucking it up the inside of team-mate Lecuona at Turn 6, while Oliveira ran wide to drop down the order and eventually outside the top 10.
The two Ducatis led the field over the line by over two seconds after the first lap of the race, while Alvaro Bautista moved up to third ahead of Alberto Surra. However, the rookie, high on confidence after his maiden podium in Race 1, looked to get on terms with the double world champion and eventually overtook down the main straight at the start of the third lap.
However, Surra tried but was unable to pull away from Bautista, who continued following the rookie in the hopes of pressuring him into an error. With seven laps to go, Bautista saw an opportunity and got back in front of the Italian rider.
Yet it was a missed opportunity, as with five laps to go Bautista got it wrong on the brakes and slid out of the podium positions, giving Surra the third place back and missing what would have been a first visit to the rostrum since Phillip Island.
Meanwhile Oliveira was trying to get back through the field after his early mistake, producing a stunning double overtake on Garrett Gerloff and Alex Lowes to move back up to ninth. The Portuguese rider tried to emulate the same move one lap later on Lorenzo Baldassarri and Xavi Vierge, and although he made the move stick on the GoEleven rider, he ran wide to allow Vierge back through for seventh.
Oliveira also squandered the position to Baldassarri to drop back to ninth, but tried another ambitious double overtake on the pair into Turn 1. This time, however, he was too far back for the move to work, running well wide and dropping back to 12th.
Out front however, it was yet more domination by world champion Bulega who took the chequered flag to complete a trio of victories from the Estoril round by 4.888s.
Lecuona was comfortable in second place, over 11 seconds ahead of Surra who completed the podium in third.
Yari Montella was fourth at the chequered flag, which saw him become the top independent rider of 2026 and close in on third place in the championship. Meanwhile, Axel Bassani completed the top five as the highest non-Ducati rider ahead of Baldassarri in sixth.
Gerloff finished ahead of Oliveira at the flag as the pair took seventh and eighth respectively, while Vierge took ninth and Jake Dixon completed the top 10.
Tommy Bridewell gained eight places in the race to take 11th over Remy Gardner on 12th. Meanwhile Somkiat Chantra was 13th at the line, with Stefano Manzi completing his race in 14th. Sam Lowes struggled throughout the race but picked up the final point in 15th.
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