Now yes. Activity on the track is beginning to stop, also in relation to WSBK, which held its last tests of the season in Jerez. Tests that, despite the morning cold on both days, have been able to be held normally and have served to see the long-awaited debuts of some of the riders who will make up the WSBK 2026 grid.
Among those riders who are making their debut in the championship is Miguel Ángel Oliveira, who has had a first contact in which he has grown to finish close to the times of his teammate Danilo Petrucci, who was also making his debut with the BMW S1000RR. The other two big news in terms of newcomers are Jake Dikson and Somkiat Chantra, who leave Moto2 and MotoGP respectively to be part of the official HRC team.
While the “newbies” and the riders who change motorcycles have been adapting and gradually improving their performance, the regulars have dedicated themselves to continuing working on rhythm and set-up. Logically, in this sense, the performance of Alex Lowes with the Bimota KB998 Rimini stands out, as he finished at the top of the combined classification of the two days with a really powerful time: 1’37.825.
Not far behind, despite still being in the adaptation phase, was Xavi Vierge, just over two tenths behind and showing that he feels comfortable with the Yamaha, as we saw in the first test a few weeks ago. In any case, test times must always be taken with caution, as demonstrated by the fact that Michael van der Mark, who now acts as test driver, took the BMW to third position when in the last two seasons it has not been able to get close to the leading positions.
The Jerez tests are the last of the WSBK until 2026
Meanwhile, Andrea Locatelli, who is precisely one of the drivers who everyone expects to fight for podiums continuously in 2026, finished fourth after dominating the first day. Regarding the changes, by the way, it should be noted that Petrucci finished fifth, 645 thousandths off the reference time, and ahead of Axel Bassani with the second Bimota.
There is no doubt that these unofficial tests had several important absentees and the Ducati riders did not travel to Jerez. Without Bulega and Lecuona on the track, who were the dominators of the previous tests, in addition to the rest of the privateers, the time table remains incomplete, which increases uncertainty about performance.
Of course, the countdown to WSBK 2026 is already underway, and as usual, the World Superbike is the championship that gets up the earliest and the first round starts in less than 90 days.
