Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) put on an absolute masterclass at the Circuito Estoril, fighting through early trouble to claim a commanding Race 1 victory and his 27th win of the season. Things didn't look entirely straightforward off the line when Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) outbraked his teammate at Turn 1, opening the door for Alex Lowes to slip past and dump the 2026 Champion down to third place.
It didn't take long for the machine to find its rhythm, though. Bulega wrestled second back from Alex Lowes on the opening lap and then carved past Lecuona at Turn 1 on Lap 3 to take control of the race. Once out front, the Italian checked out completely, setting a blistering new race lap record of a 1’34.964s on his way to tying Alvaro Bautista's (Barni Spark Racing Team) 2023 benchmark of 27 wins in a single campaign. Lecuona brought his machine home in second place, 3.870s adrift, marking his 29th WorldSBK podium and putting him level with John Kocinski.
Behind the Ducati duo, Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) put in a stunning drive to secure his second WorldSBK podium in three races, finishing 9.668s behind the winner. Surra kept his cool under immense pressure when home hero Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) charged within a second of the #67, eventually pulling out a 1.6-second cushion to claim his very first rostrum in a feature-length race.
Oliveira recovered brilliantly from a slow start to finish fourth (+11.444s), holding off a late challenge from Alex Lowes (+12.749s) to bag his first top-five since his podium in Hungary. Lowes crossed the line fifth ahead of Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven), who soldiered on to sixth despite getting clattered from behind on Lap 6 by Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) in an incident investigated and cleared by the FIM WorldSBK Stewards.
Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) held off a furious late charge from Montella to take seventh, with just 0.033s splitting them at the line. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) managed ninth, followed by Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) in tenth.
Further down the order, Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) took 11th after losing a place to Gerloff late on, while Jake Dixon (Honda HRC) slipped from his seventh-place grid spot to finish 12th. Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha), Somkiat Chantra (Honda HRC), and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) rounded out the remaining points-paying positions. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) narrowly missed out in 16th, finishing just 0.462s outside the points.
Heartbreak struck Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) on the penultimate lap when he crashed out of a points-paying position at Turn 9. He managed to fire the machine back up and crawled home in 22nd and last place.
