At the end of March, racing took place in Portimao, on the southern coast, while this weekend the action moves to Estoril, 300 km further north, just steps from the Atlantic Ocean. A total of 25 rounds have been held on Portuguese soil, but in the first 20 editions of the WorldSBK Championship this happened only in 1988 and 1993.
GP data
According to Brembo engineers who work closely with 13 of the 14 teams in the Superbike World Championship, the 4.182 km-long Estoril Circuit falls into the category of tracks that are highly demanding on brakes. On a scale of 1 to 5, it earned a difficulty index of 4 because riders use the brakes in 9 corners for a total of 26 seconds. Four braking sections are in the High category, including 2 consecutive ones (turns 6 and 7), 2 Medium and 3 Low.
The toughest corner of the Estoril Circuit for the braking system is the first one: the Superbikes go from 310 km/h to 84 km/h in 4.9 seconds, over which they cover 249 metres, while the riders apply a load of 5.6 kg to the brake lever. At that point, the deceleration they are subjected to is 1.5 g and the pressure of the Brembo brake fluid reaches 12 bar.
Three titles for the Italians
In Race 2 at Cremona, Nicolò Bulega mathematically became Superbike world champion, a feat achieved by only one other Italian, Max Biaggi. The Roman rider also won his first title in Italy, aboard an Italian bike, in Race 2: he triumphed in 2010 with Aprilia, at Imola, although there was only one round left before the end. In 2012, Biaggi repeated the feat, again riding an Aprilia, but in the final race of the concluding round, at Magny-Cours, in France. His RSV4 Factory bikes also featured Brembo braking systems.
Bulega’s loyalty to Brembo
Nicolò Bulega is the only rider in the world to have won both the Supersport World Championship and the Superbike World Championship. The Ducati Panigale V2 with which he became champion in 2023 was also equipped with Brembo brakes: at the front it had two 320 mm diameter steel discs operated by monoblock cast aluminium calipers with four 32 mm pistons.
The two braking styles
Nicolò Bulega will compete next season in MotoGP, a category in which he also raced twice last year, achieving two fifteenth-place finishes. In the premier class, like all his fellow riders, he will use carbon discs, which are banned in Superbike, while from next year the innovative Hyction carbon-ceramic discs will make their debut. In recent interviews, Bulega explained that one of the most difficult aspects is learning how to execute the first part of braking: «When you ride a MotoGP bike, you have to be smooth in the first part and only after loading the tyre pull the brake lever. The opposite of what you do in Superbike».