The 2024 Superbike World Championship will conclude with an Iberian double-header, with this weekend’s Estoril round coming immediately ahead of the season finale at Jerez. In Portugal, permanent entry Tarran Mackenzie will be flanked by local rider Ivo Lopes, who stands in for a still injured Adam Norrodin at what is his home track. 

28-year-old Lopes has recent experience of the CBR1000RR-R and the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team, having already stepped in for Norrodin at the Magny-Cours and Cremona rounds, as well as substituting for Mackenzie at the earlier Portimão round. 

Ten days ago, Mackenzie worked hard to find direction despite the challenges at Motorland Aragón, while Norrodin, who had previously fractured his toe during testing at Estoril in August, was unfortunately ruled unfit to compete after completing FP1. Although Tarran was forced to sit out the Estoril test due to injury this summer, the squad can at least refer to data acquired by Adam during those August sessions. 

The Estoril Circuit is 4.182 km long and features four left-hand turns and nine right-handers, as well as a very long straight. Located very close to the coastal town of Estoril, the track is not far from capital city Lisbon. It has previously hosted F1 and MotoGP events, among other international motor racing series. WorldSBK has visited the track on five previous occasions, in 1998, 1993 and more recently, in 2020, 2021 and 2022.  

Tarran Mackenzie 

“I felt like that we made some kind of progress in the last race at Aragón, moving in the right direction with respect to the previous rounds. As for Estoril, I have ridden there before but not since 2012 when I was riding a 125, so it’s been a while! And I missed this year’s test unfortunately because I was injured. So, it’ll be a case of re-learning the layout with the Superbike and adapting to the track and the weather conditions too, which might be tricky this time of year. I’m looking forward to it anyway, and we’ll do our best to round out the 2024 season on a high.” 

Adam Norrodin 

“I’m disappointed of course, because my target was to compete at these last two rounds after having been unable to complete the Aragón weekend. I was hopeful but have now had another CT scan and the fracture is still there. So, I will continue with my rehabilitation in the hope of being able to compete in the final round at Jerez. It’s been hard for me, especially mentally, to miss so many rounds but with any luck I can work hard over the next week and see if I can return for the season finale.” 

Ivo Lopes 

“I have another chance to compete in WorldSBK, which is fantastic, but it’s very different this time as this is my home round and my home track too. So, I want to say a big thank you to the team and to everyone involved in giving me this opportunity. My goal is to work hard right from Friday’s FP1 and step by step we’ll see what we can do. I want to do as well as possible for the team this weekend.” 

Track Information: 

Country: Portugal
Name: Circuito Estoril
Length: 4.182 km
Pole position: left 

Corners: 4 left-hand, 9 right-hand 

SBK RECORDS: Best lap – Rea (Kawasaki) 1'36.204 (2022). Superpole – Rea (Kawasaki) 1'35.346 (2022). 

2022 SBK RESULTS: 

Race 1 - 1. Bautista (Ducati); 2. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha); 3. Rea (Kawasaki); 

Superpole Race - 1. Rea (Kawasaki); 2. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha); 3. Bautista (Ducati) 

Race 2 – 1. Rea (Kawasaki); 2. Bautista (Ducati); 3. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha)