One of 2026’s most impressive rookies so far, Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) put together another strong round at the Circuit de Nevers Magny-Cours, where the Italian strung together one of his best rounds yet. He earned his best result in a full length race of P5 in Race 2, tying both his best WorldSBK result of fourth place in the Tissot Superpole Race as well as tying his second-best Superpole result of P5 earned at Most. Despite meeting these record highs, he’s determined to keep working in search of even better results in his home round to come at Cremona.
A FLYING START IN FRANCE
Surra’s 1’35.141s time sent him to the middle of the second row in P5, the last rider in Ducati’s lockout of the top five positions in the session. The red-flagged Race 1 saw him defend his position nearly on, battling with Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) for fifth position before the sophomore rider found a way past on Lap 8. A lap later, their battle was cut short as Tommy Bridewell (Superbikes Advocates) crashed at Turn 15, damaging the air fence and causing a red flag intermission to make repairs to the barrier. After the restart, Surra was unable to recuperate P5, having fallen to P7 after the opening lap, he overtook Garrett Gerloff (Kawasaki WorldSBK Team) for P6 for two laps, before falling behind Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) and later, Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) for a P8 finish to the race.
TWO TOP FIVES ON SUNDAY
He shined in the Tissot Superpole Race, sailing off the line to maintain his P5 position, while he later lost it to Montella on Lap 5, he kept it tidy and benefitted from a Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) crash ahead of him on Turn 3 of the last lap to finish back in P4. In Race 2, he gave the #5 a run for his money early on, overtaking his countryman at the Adelaide corner for P3 on the opening lap. He maintained that position until Lap 6, and while he tried another move at Adelaide, Montella held him off to push Surra back to P4. As the race progressed, Surra’s tyres began to show signs of wear as while he posted sub-1’36.5 times in nine of the first ten laps, over the final nine laps, he posted only one lap with sub-1’36.9s pace, losing P4 to Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) in the process at Turn 15 of Lap 14.
“I DIDN’T HAVE MUCH GRIP ON THE REAR, BUT I’LL BE WORKING ON THAT AT THE CREMONA TEST”
Bagging such results with growing consistency almost makes one forget that the 22-year-old is only in his rookie season in the Championship. He is still hunting for a maiden podium here in WorldSBK, and for him, his focus will be on improving his tyre management over the race distance. Fortunately for him, he will have the luxury of training just that at a private test at Cremona, then enjoy two weekends to nurse a knock on his shoulder, which saw him miss the UK Round, and continued to bother him during the round. He will return for his home round at the Cremona Circuit in the next stop on the WorldSBK calendar.
Reflecting on his round, Surra said: “Another fantastic result with my team! I’m very happy with these results, this is one of my favourite circuits. I didn’t have much grip on the rear tyre, but I’ll be working on that at the Cremona test. In the Superpole Race, I had grip, but in the full-length race after Lap 10, I didn’t have much grip, and I started to slow down. My shoulder isn’t 100% yet but my trainer and I will work on that. I will be ready for Cremona.”
Catch Surra at home in Cremona next round with action getting started on Friday, September 25th Live and OnDemand with the WorldSBK VideoPass! Now 70% off!