News

With the EICMA Estoril Round mere days away, the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship field is chomping at the bit to put rubber to the road at the Circuito Estoril in what will be their 11^th of the 2025 season’s 12 rounds. In preparation for what’s set up to be a decisive round, riders from the WorldSBK, WorldSSP and WorldSSP300 fields are brushing up on the circuit’s layout, and now, you can too.

CORNER-BY-CORNER: Take a lap around the circuit with Chaz Davies and Yari Montella!

Flying off the line at lights out, the track starts with a trio of right-handed turns, a trend that will be seen more throughout as the circuit features nine right-handed turns to only four left-handed ones. Riders have a short run towards the acute Turn 1, tucking in before the nearly straight run to T2, before another straight ride into T3, the first of Estoril’s numerous hairpins. Putting a knee down through T3, riders can open the throttle momentarily before needing to turn the bike over and put the other knee down for the first left-handed turn of the track, and the second consecutive hairpin, also known as the “VIP” T4. That turn’s exit towards the interior section of the track gives the bikes their first chance to stretch their legs a bit, as while they need to mind the T5’s leftward kink, riders face the longest straight stretch of track so far on their run towards T6. Turn 6 is also known as “Parabolica Interior” and, as well as being the designated corner where Long Lap Penalties must be served, it requires riders to get back onto the brakes and lean back to their left for what is the fastest hairpin of the 4.182km circuit.

On their approach to the “Orelha” T7, opening up the throttle means that riders fly downhill through the turn towards the slowest section of the track, the technical T8-T10 segment. Legendary former rider and rival to Jonathan Rea (Pata Maxus Yamaha), Chaz Davies talks us through the tricky section of track: “In T8, I would already be setting up before I got to that right, sitting a bit further back because when you hit the brakes on the very tight T9 left, it’s such a quick transition to start heading left, I’d get this kick from the rear, which would unsettle the bike through that very tight T9-T10 chicane. That kick could make you lose everything- you’d end up a little bit wide, you can’t open up the gas, the change of direction would be slow, and you’d have to give up some time on the right-handed T10 because you’d already be too tight. So, you’d have to set up your body position one corner early not to give it that chance to kick sideways.”

Through that technical section of track, riders like the rookie Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) can open the throttle once again as the circuit flows into the distinct, undulating final corners. While speeds are higher than in the tight T8-T10 section just behind it, in Montella’s opinion, it is just as critical here to take a good line: I think the entire final sector, from T8-T13, is difficult because you need to take one line through it, and if you miss the first one, you miss the whole sector. In this sector, you have two completely different kinds of corners. You have a small chicane, followed by a very long right-hand corner on the right side of the bike, before a fast left and a really long final right-handed corner, which is not easy to find the right line around. You need a good drive onto the very long main straight.”

Catch all the action in Estoril with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now just €9.99!