The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s breakout 2026 rookie Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) has confirmed his pace again in his maiden campaign. This time, in a sweltering weekend at MotorLand Aragon, where the youngster earned his best-ever result in the Championship in Sunday morning’s Tissot Superpole Race at the Aragon Round.
A PENALISED START TO THE WEEKEND
Despite a 1’47.349s Tissot Superpole session time which clocked him in just half a second off of Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati)’s time and just three hundredths of a second behind Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), Surra had to serve his Back of Grid penalty applied to him by FIM WorldSBK Stewards for his Yellow Flag procedure infringement during Free Practice 1. Starting from P22 in Race 2, he made an initial jump up to P15 by Lap 5, benefitting from Alvaro Bautista's (Barni Spark Racing Team) tech issue and Andrea Locatelli's (Pata Maxus Yamaha) crash on Turn 15 of Lap 5 and making his way past Honda HRC pair Somkiat Chantra and Jake Dixon as well as Motoxracing WorldSBK Team’s duo of Bahattin Sofuoglu and Mattia Rato. He subsequently got tangled up behind Stefano Manzi (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and later Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha), riding within a tenth of a second of both at points, but was unable to make his way past and finished Race 1 in P15.
“My best results in WorldSBK, I’m very happy with the outcome”
With his penalty served, Surra saw lights out from P3 in the Tissot Superpole Race, his first front row start in the Championship, and the lights were none too bright for the Italian as he even made his way past Championship leader Nicolo Bulega on Turn 4, then on the subsequent Lap 2, he made an incisive move on Turn 5 to lead a WorldSBK race for the first time. He would go on to drop a few positions, first to Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) on Lap 3, then fall to P4 behind Bulega. He would fall as far as P5 behind Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) as his tyres continued to fade, but P4 would come back to him after the #34 crashed out on Turn 4-5 of the penultimate lap.
On his momentous Sunday Tissot Superpole Race, Surra said: “I’m really happy, a big thanks to my team for their hard work, this weekend I worked for the best results I’ve ever had in WorldSBK and I’m very happy with the outcome. It’s beautiful to ride in P1, Bulega and Lecuona are very fast, I’m very happy to have been racing up with them.”
“The engine got very hot, making it impossible to pass others”
The final race of the weekend got rolling with Surra starting in P4. He defended his place until the boiling heat began to exacerbate standing issues he has shown with maintaining his tyre life, seeing him fall down to P8 by Lap 12 as riders like Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team), Alvaro Bautista, and Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) found a way past him. The #67 would go on to finish the race in eighth, a result that is no small feat considering his lack of experience as a rookie in the category.
On his Race 2 and his hopes for Misano, Surra said: “Race 2 was very different, the circuit was very hot, and the engine got very hot, which made it impossible to pass other riders, but it’s more kilometres on the bike, which is good for me. Misano is my favourite circuit in Italy, next round at Misano I’ll be aiming for the podium, see you there!”
Catch Surra as he rides home to compete at Misano on June 12th with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 50% off!