Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) rides away from the Pirelli Portuguese Round’s Autodromo Internacional do Algarve with a trio of fourth-place finishes in his pocket. A seasoned veteran of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship paddock, he raised his total to a venerable 360 race starts in the category.

He kicked off the round strong in the Tissot Superpole session, where he sent himself to the first spot on the third row with a 1’39.167s time, three hundredths slower than Xavi Vierge (Pata Maxus Yamaha), who took P6. Across the weekend, his results were the stronger of the field’s pair of Bimota bikes; however, his young teammate Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) was never too far behind the British veteran.

NO DICE AT PORTIMAO: “I’m happy for Miguel to get on the podium at home, but we would have liked to have at least gotten one podium from our day’s work”

In each of the weekend’s three races, Alex Lowes enjoyed strong jumps off of the line at lights out. Race 1 saw the #22 shoot up into P4 by passing home hero Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in the final sector of Lap 1 before Oliveira sent him back to P5 on the drive down into Turn 1 of Lap 2. From there, the British rider pushed hard, but the only thing that improved his position was an unfortunate crash from Yari Montella, sending him up to P4. From there, Lowes rode on an Island, with a two-second gap both in front and behind him. Sunday brought more competition, but a similar story for the #22, a jump up to P3, which this time he was able to protect until Lap 3, until Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) made a move past him on his way to a P2 finish. Lowes had a bit more fight in him left, however, as by Lap 6 he took advantage of a moment from the #88 and made up 0.374s to cut the Portuguese riders lead to two tenths, but that is as close as the Brit would come to him as he finished the race 0.380s slower.

Race 2 presented Lowes with his final chance to get back on the podium at Portimao for the first time since his 2024 double. He snapped up the opportunity at lights out, flying off the line to tail Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) from P2, déjà vu set in as Oliveira made his move on the heavy braking Turn 3 of Lap 2, and Lecuona less than a lap later on the main straight as the factory Ducati outgunned his KB998 Rimini. Determined to push until the end, he opened the throttle and pushed to prevent the BMW and Ducati machines from leaving him in the dust. Lowes ran 11 of the race’s 20 Laps faster than Oliveira, including four laps in which he made up a margin of two tenths or more. Nonetheless, he could do little more to catch him and had to settle for P4

On his Sunday feeling, Lowes said: “I felt more competitive on Sunday than on Saturday, on both races on the final day I got the same results, but I was a lot closer to the podium. It’s not easy to race against these guys; I felt like our bike was very strong through Turn 6 and Turn 7 in the middle sector. We can be so fast through there, but there aren’t really many places to pass there. I didn’t feel like I could really attack in those areas, especially in Race 2. I used a lot of the tyre to get back to the fight for the podium, and by the time I arrived, I didn’t have much grip left. I pushed to the last corner, giving everything I had in case Miguel made a mistake. Fair play to him, it was my first time riding with him in a race. He rode fantastically, and he brought out a big crowd, which was great for WorldSBK, so I’m happy for him to get on the podium, but we would have liked to have at least gotten one podium from our day’s work.”

POSITIVE TAKEAWAYS: “We didn’t underperform; I think we were where we should be”

The Lincolnshire rider has been seeing more and more of the podium as he and his team come to better understand their KB998 Rimini platform. After joining the paddock full-time in 2014, he has netted a total of 51 rostrum results. After three in his first two seasons with Suzuki, he went on a tear from 2017 to 2019 with Yamaha, landing 17, culminating in a move to Kawasaki. He then bagged at least four over the next three seasons before a comparative drought in 2023, where he landed a sole P3 at Mandalika. 2024 was a breakout return to form, earning two wins and 12 podiums. In 2025, when he was selected to lead the new Bimota racing project, he even landed podiums on that bike four times, earning silverware. Now with 10 rounds to go in 2026, he already has a podium finish in Australia, and by the looks, he will look to sate his appetite all season long.

On how it was to finish so close to the podium and joking about outpacing his brother who landed a trio of P5s, Lowes said: “It was a bit frustrating, of course, with how close the podium was, and you always look back and think what you could have done better. On the bike I felt like I was on the limit; we took a lot from the bike. I think I put myself in a good position; we didn’t underperform. I think we were where we should be. It’s just always frustrating when you get so close but no podium. Overall, I’m happy with the job the team and I did. Now we’re looking forward to Assen, and we’ll try to get on the podium there. It’s also always nice to be in front of my brother Sam, he can buy the drinks tonight. Jokes aside, he did a great job this weekend as well. With his injury at a track like this, I’m really happy for him.”

Alex Lowes and the rest of the Bimota squad return in Round 3 at the ‘Cathedral of Speed’, catch every moment Live and OnDemand with WorldSBK VideoPass!