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Although the title is already in the hands of Carlos Checa, who sealed the deal at Magny-Cours, the last round still offers numerous points of interest. The first is represented by the return of Max Biaggi. The Aprilia Alitalia rider, who suffered a broken bone in his left foot at the Nürburgring, an incident that put paid to his hopes of winning the title again, comes back at the track where he scored a double win in his successful 2010 season.

In the battle for third place in the championship, the ‘Pirate' will have to deal with Eugene Laverty who is two points ahead of him in the standings. The Irishman, together with his team-mate Marco Melandri, who clinched the runner-up slot, is making his final appearance for the Yamaha World Superbike team, as the Japanese manufacturer will officially withdraw at the end of the season, but unlike the Italian Laverty has not yet confirmed his 2012 plans.

Leon Haslam, the rider who will share the BMW Motorrad Motorsport garage with Melandri next year, is moving on from an encouraging Magny-Cours round, that saw him finish third and fourth in the two races. Haslam has also had some measure of success at Portimao, having twice finished second last year.

Jonathan Rea on the other hand is preparing to wipe out the memories of a disastrous French Round, where he crashed in race 1 and then had an electronics problem in race 2. The use of the new ride-by-wire system on his Castrol Honda CBR1000RR from Imola onwards has in any case given a competitive boost to the young northern Irishman, allowing him to challenge once again for the leading positions.

For Michel Fabrizio the situation is more complicated following a negative end to the season. The Italian, who has only scored 11 points in the last four rounds, will clearly be looking for some good results at a track that saw him winner two years ago.

The Alstare man will not be the only Suzuki rider on the track this weekend as Yoshimura Suzuki reappears on the scene for the third time this year following two outings at Phillip Island and Miller Motorsports Park. Once again Australian Joshua Waters hopes to continue the Japanese team's good progress.

Following a few problems at Magny-Cours, Ayrton Badovini (BMW Motorrad Italia) wants to get back on track to finish what, for the young Italian, has been an extremely positive season. His fellow Italian Roberto Rolfo (Kawasaki Pedercini) will however have to miss the final round after an incident on his bicycle at home that led to him picking up a broken kneecap.

Making his debut in the Superbike World Championship at Portimao will be Davide Giugliano, who won this year's FIM Superstock 1000 Cup with the Althea Racing Team: the young Italian will be in the same garage as world champion Carlos Checa, and with Ducati Corse's Ernesto Marinelli on hand as his race chief.