Wet Weather Dampens Top Guns' Powder
A
fter a partial wash-out at a
not-quite-truly dry Circuit de
Jerez - Angel Nieto the previous
week, there were a lot of riders
and teams in the new-look 2026
WorldSBK lineup who had—by
necessity—staked their main
preseason hopes on the final
European test outing at Portimao,
which took place between Janu-
ary 28-29.
Some WorldSSP and other
teams headed out on track at
Portimao on the 26th and 27th,
but the weather was not really
playing ball on any of the avail-
able days in the hills behind the
Algarve coast.
The fastest rider overall on the
two main days was Garrett Gerl-
off (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team)
with a 1:46.262 set on day one
during a short dry-ish spell. He
was still riding on a damp track,
even if he set his fastest lap on
slicks, so he was understandably
well shy of the 1:39.081 Super-
pole record.
Things were so bad on the
weather front that the official
BMW Motorrad team broke down
their entire setup and headed off
to Valencia—much further to the
east of the south coast of the Ibe-
rian landmass—as they had two
new riders to try and get tuned
into their 2026 M 1000 RR.
The bimota by Kawasaki Rac-
ing Team duo of Alex Lowes and
Axel Bassani did not go out at
all, leaving regular test rider Xavi
Fores to go through as many
wet setups and parts tests as he
could.
The Barni Spark Racing
Ducati team, now with two-time
WorldSBK champ Alvaro Bautista
alongside their sophomore rider
Yari Montella, only had Montella
on track at all at Portimao, with
Bautista not getting out on the
new Ducati V4 RS.
None of the factory or factory-
supported Yamaha riders went
WIND
IN THE
P48
Garrett Gerloff was fastest at Portimao, but not everyone was there.
