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Australian Round action on track gave a first look at where your favourite MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship riders stack up after offseason moves and an abridged preseason of testing.  Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) took home a hat-trick, making good on the lofty expectations placed on him coming into his favourite circuit on the calendar, but he was far from the only figure in the paddock who made headlines at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit.

LEMONS TO LEMONADE: Oliveira gets his debut weekend back on track after early tumble

Miguel Oliveira (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) is one of the most intriguing prospects to join the paddock in recent memory, however his debut weekend got off to a bumpy start. Oliveira saw gravel just three minutes into the 15-minute Tissot Superpole session after a lowside spill at the Southern Loop. His bike was quickly taken to the box to make repairs, but after technical troubles with getting the bike started again, he was unfortunately not able to return to the track during the session. As a result, the #88 had to start his WorldSBK racing career from the back of the grid.

A back-of-the-grid start didn’t deter him in Race 1 as he battled to a P8 finish, finishing ahead of Petrucci, across 22 laps. He had less than half of that in the Tissot Superpole Race to finish in the top nine to give him a better starting position for Race 2, and it looked like he’d pull it off. At the end of Lap 9, he was running in P9, which would’ve been enough for a third-row start. However, a problem with his quick shifter, eventually leaving him stuck in sixth gear, meant he was classified in P18. For the third time in the weekend, he started from the back but finished Race 2 in seventh place, completing a third remarkable comeback.

NEW FACES AT THE FRONT: An Italian trio broke onto the scene Down Under

Three Italians stole headlines of varying degrees throughout the weekend. Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) loves Phillip Island and is always quick there, but a podium finish seemed unlikely. However, he was fast throughout testing and had strong race pace, which he converted into a second-place finish in Race 1, from second on the grid, for his first WorldSBK podium. Then, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) made an incredible return to the Championship. After two years away, he battled from seventh to finish in third as he resisted a late charge from Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team). Likewise, it was his first WorldSBK rostrum. Finally, Alberto Surra (Motocorsa Racing) didn’t hit the heights of Montella and Baldassarri, but he put in some strong performances in his first WorldSBK weekend. P10 in Tissot Superpole, ahead of Tarran Mackenzie (MGM Optical Express Racing), Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), turned into P9 in Race 1. He rounded out the weekend’s action with two P12s on Sunday, a solid start to the 21-year-old’s first campaign.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS: Bimota’s riders took the manufacturer back to double podium glory and Tarran Mackenzie landed a new career high

After a 2025 season in which Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) did all of the podium heavy lifting, his teammate Axel Bassani showed his monumental steps with the KB998 Rimini. He started the weekend from P5 just behind his #22 teammate, however finished Race 1 as top Bimota in P4 as Lowes slid back to P7. Sunday bore fruit for the manufacturer as in the morning, Bassani led Alex Lowes onto the podium from P2, landing the manufacturer’s first double podium since the Championship’s first season back in 1988. Hungry for more, Bassani took his second podium in a wet and chaotic Race 2 to close the round with a trio of rostrum results for Bimota. All eyes move to Portimao to see if they can keep it up in Europe.

Looking content in his first season opener with his new team, Tarran Mackenzie's strong form rose to new heights in Australia. The Scotsman has always performed well in wet conditions- a conception he jokes that he wants to shake, but a deluge in Race 2 proved to be an opportunity the #95 couldn’t pass up.  The Ducati Independent rider climbed up to finish fourth from P13 on the grid despite minimal visibility and a litany of riders crashing out of the contest from the tricky conditions. This result marks his best-ever result in the Championship, and while Mackenzie wants to enjoy similar success in the dry, wet conditions on track will always be an ace up the Scotsman’s sleeve.

WORLD SUPERSPORT: ZXMOTO strong from the very start

Valentin Debise (ZXMOTO Factory Evan Bros Racing) and his brand-new Chinese manufacturer ZXMOTO kicked off their WorldSSP story with a much stronger weekend than results might suggest. After a Superpole session time just three tenths out of P1 sent him to the front row of the grid in the season-opening race, he looked comfortable atop his ZXMOTO 820RR. He fought well with Can Oncu (Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing), Albert Arenas (AS BLU CRU Racing Team) and Oli Bayliss (PTR Triumph Factory Racing) at the heart of the podium fight. He was riding in fourth place when he crashed out of the race at Turn 4. Race 2 didn’t fare much better for the Frenchman, as, like most of the grid, he went with rain tyres to take on the wet conditions on-track. The storm quickly broke, and with strong winds blowing in from the Bass Strait, the track dried off quickly. His pace began to plummet, however, and after riding into pit lane as the last rider to change to slick tyres, he wasn’t able to regain any of the 17 positions he lost after the trip to pit lane. His P25 and P24 results are a tough break for the new manufacturer, but his teammate Federico Caricasulo scored the first points of the ZXMOTO racing project in WorldSSP after he took P14 in Race 1. While they would have hoped for more, the team can take home their points and given how much upside they've shown, they’re surely a manufacturer to keep an eye on in 2026.

Catch every moment of a packed Portimao race weekend, featuring WorldSBK, WorldSSP, WorldWCR and the debut of the new WorldSPB category! Watch Live or OnDemand with the WorldSBK VideoPass!