Early FIM World Sportbike form guide shaped after Portimao Test

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Portimao Test

The FIM World Sportbike Championship arrives at Portimao this weekend with a far clearer shape than it had a few days ago. Monday’s official test was the first time the full class had been seen together in meaningful conditions, and it suggested the inaugural season may open with Kawasaki holding the early advantage.

Xavi Artigas topped the combined sheet on the MTM Kawasaki ZX-6R 636 with a 1:48.894, just 0.067s ahead of Ferre Fleerackers’ Suzuki GSX-8R, while MTM teammate Loris Veneman completed the top three.

Honda wildcard Diego Poncet was fourth, David Salvador made it three Kawasakis in the top five, and Matteo Vannucci was the leading Aprilia rider in sixth. Only Artigas and Fleerackers broke into the 1:48s, while the top 10 were covered by just under eight-tenths.

That test mattered because WorldSPB launches with a genuinely mixed technical formula. The permanent 2026 field is built around 33 riders, 18 teams and six manufacturers, but the category has deliberately brought together very different engine layouts and capacities under a balancing system designed to equalise performance.

Kawasaki’s ZX-6R 636 is a 636cc four-cylinder producing a claimed 124 hp, Suzuki’s GSX-8R is a 776cc twin, Aprilia’s RS 660 Factory is a 659cc twin with around 105 hp, Triumph’s Daytona 660 uses a three-cylinder engine with a claimed 95 hp, Yamaha’s R7 is a 689cc twin with around 73 hp, and Kove’s 450RR is a 443cc four-cylinder with roughly 70 hp. WorldSBK has also confirmed balancing tools such as concession parts, torque-limited maps, rev limits and minimum-weight changes, while Honda’s CBR600RR has been homologated despite not appearing on the permanent entry list.

On the stopwatch, Kawasaki’s package looked the most complete. Beyond Artigas setting the pace, Kawasaki placed Veneman third, Salvador fifth, Alvaro Fuertes eighth, and Juan Risueno ninth, and still had Jose Osuna 13th, Antonio Torres 15th, and Julian Correa 20th. That does not guarantee race-winning superiority once qualifying and race distance come into play, but for a first all-in test, it was the only brand to show both outright speed and serious depth. Artigas’ own read afterwards was that the field is close, but his result and the broader Kawasaki spread suggest the 636 is the machine everyone else will be measuring themselves against when practice starts on Friday.

Suzuki was the other eye-catcher. Fleerackers’ second place put the GSX-8R straight into the spotlight, but it was the wider picture that made the stronger statement: Kas Beekmans finished seventh, and Jeffrey Buis was 10th, giving Suzuki three bikes in the top 10 on its first official WorldSPB test day. For a returning manufacturer with a parallel-twin platform rather than a traditional supersport-style four, that is an encouraging opening marker and suggests the balancing framework may already be doing what it was designed to do.

Aprilia and Triumph were less explosive, but both left Portimao with reasons to be encouraged. Vannucci’s sixth was enough to put the RS 660 Factory firmly in the conversation, with teammate Mattia Sorrenti 11th and MMR riders Ioannis Peristeras and Thomas Benetti 22nd and 26th.

Triumph’s best was Harrison Dessoy in 14th, followed by Bruno Ieraci in 16th, Fenton Seabright in 17th and Elia Bartolini in 19th, which points to a reasonable baseline for the Daytona 660 even if it was not yet troubling the front group.

Yamaha and Kove had a tougher first read. Yamaha is the most prolific manufacturer on the permanent grid with 12 riders, but its best Portimao result was Marco Gaggi in 12th, followed by Humberto Maier in 18th and then a cluster of R7 riders outside the top 20. That list included Australian Carter Thompson in 27th, 1.876s from Artigas, and 2025 Yamaha R3 BLU CRU World Cup winner Alessandro Di Persio in 29th.

Kove’s 450RR, which arrives after winning the 2025 WorldSSP300 title with Benat Fernandez, was 21st with the reigning champion and 28th with Phillip Tonn.

That does not rule either brand out once the weekend settles into race trim, but both clearly have more to find than Kawasaki and Suzuki before the first points are handed out.

Honda is an interesting disruptor. The permanent launch story has centred on six manufacturers, but WorldSBK had already flagged Honda homologation as a possibility for later in the year. That possibility became immediate at Portimao, where Poncet’s wildcard Honda finished fourth and only 0.305s off the outright pace. Even if Honda is not part of the season-long manufacturer picture yet, its one-off Portimao presence was enough to show that any future expansion of the grid may alter the competitive equation again.

The new class has drawn heavily from WorldSSP300, which it replaces, and Monday suggested some riders have adapted faster than others.

So what does that leave ahead of round one? It leaves a compelling first form guide rather than a settled championship hierarchy. Kawasaki has the speed and the depth; Suzuki has announced itself immediately; Aprilia looks capable of getting involved near the front; Honda has already muddied the narrative as a wildcard; and Triumph, Yamaha and Kove all have clear upside if they can convert test mileage into race-week gains.

WorldSPB’s first races are scheduled for 2300 AEST on both Saturday and Sunday nights this weekend.