Portuguese pilot Miguel Oliveira defined the fourth place reached in the race to return to Estoril as “special”, revealing himself eager for the Sunday race.
© Lusa
10/10/2026
by
Lusa
O portuguese Miguel Oliveira today defined as “special” the fourth place reached in the race to return to Estoril’s racetrack, the first round of the World Superbikes round held in the Portuguese circuit, confessing “anxious” for Sunday.
“ The fact that we are in Portugal still makes this result more special. It could also have had this result in Cremona, perhaps not in fourth place but something like that, top 5 was possible. For this reason, I look forward to seeing what tomorrow [Sunday] will bring us”, took Portuguese, in the press conference that followed the first of the three races that contemplates the penultimate round of the world championship of Superbikes.
Estoril's 11th and penultimate round of the season continues on Sunday, with the Superpole race at 11:10 and the second main race at 3:30.
Miguel Oliveira (BMW) expressed his satisfaction for the consistency he achieved in the first two days of competition [free training, on Friday, followed by qualification and first race, on Saturday].
“ When I got here this weekend, I put the goal of being close to the top five and we reached it in the qualifying, yesterday as well and today, in the race. So, we are within the goal ", said the Portuguese representative in the Superbikes, after seven seasons in MotoGP.
In the opening season at the Superbikes World Cup, Miguel Oliveira reached, so far, four podiums, three of them achieved in the second round of the championship, at the Algarve International Race Course in Portimão, where he finished in the top three places in all weekend races.
This time, the driver of Almada ended up at the station immediately below and recognized a mixture of emotions.
“ It is true that, when you are so close to the podium, you always have a bittersweet taste but, yes, I am happy for now ", commented, aiming to reach one of the top three places in the Superpole and two main races, on Sunday.
Miguel Oliveira, who left fifth place on the grid, finished fourth, the 11.444 seconds of the winner and the 1,776 of the podium, being BMW's best representative. Portuguese finished with 1,305 seconds of advantage over British Alex Lowes (Bimota), fifth.
The Portuguese, 31 years old, also recalled the reception that he was targeted on Thursday, in a ‘crowd bath’ at the event of presentation of the event, in which he integrated a ‘romaria’ between the historic area of Sintra and the autodrome of Estoril, where he was honored.
“The police told me that it was about 1,200 motorcycles. For the number of motorcycles that was unexpected, and only having had a small amount of accidents, it was a miracle ", concluded.