Conditions in the second full length race at the 2026 Australian WorldSBK were “borderline dangerous”, Miguel Oliveira thinks.

Rain arrived before Race 2 started at Phillip Island and meant the conditions were full wet by the start. Conditions changed little throughout the 22 laps, but visibility was poor from the off, Oliveira felt, the 2026 WorldSBK rookie going from the back of the grid after missing the top-nine in the Superpole Race.

“I have to say probably doing the comeback from last in these full wet conditions, it was the hardest thing I had to do because the visibility was so poor and I would say borderline dangerous conditions for us,” Oliveira told WorldSBK.com.

“But we managed to stay on the bike first, which was already for itself an accomplishment due to the conditions.”

Oliveira added: “I could not see very well, but at least the bikes have some lights and I kind of judged more or less where I could brake and managed to overtake Iker [Lecuona] in the last lap. 

“For sure, a few more points and I was just trying to get the maximum out of every situation; trying to also judge the risk-reward and for sure some moments I took more risk, some moments I tried to stay a little bit more calm and that was it.”

The Portuguese rider was satisfied with finishing seventh and close to his teammate, Danilo Petrucci, in the end.

“Then, finishing P7, really close to Danilo [Petrucci], we have to be happy about it, at least we scored some points in both races. 

“It’s for sure not the place we want to be, but given the circumstances we did the best. So, we definitely go to Portimao with our heads held up high because we did a good job getting better with the bike, and we still have two days before the race so I’m sure we’ll show much more competitiveness there.”