Bridewell P13 and hungry for more as the Jerez WorldSBK round gets underway

Tommy Bridewell and the Superbike Advocates Racing team are at Jerez Circuit in Spain for the twelfth and final round of the 2026 Superbike World Championship. Friday brought two free practices, in which the rookie rider and squad worked hard to build confidence and speed around the Andalusian track.

Free practice 1 took place mid-morning, with Tommy using a first exit to get an initial feel for the track and identify potentially critical areas. As the session went on, the team began to make some strategic changes to the technical setup of his Ducati Panigale V4 R. Completing a total of nineteen laps, SBK rookie Bridewell placed a temporary fifteenth with a time of 1’39.788 at the end of this opening session.

Later in the day, and despite very hot conditions, the race-preparation work began in earnest. Unlike some of the earlier rounds, previous experience of the Jerez Circuit meant that Tommy could use Friday to focus on setup, rather than having to learn the track layout. The team made a significant change to the bike ahead of this second session, the work continuing despite much higher track and air temperatures - 45°C and 31°C respectively – and a brief interruption to the session following a crash for another rider. The high temperatures meant that only around half of the SBK field was able to improve on their FP1 times. Bridewell was among this select group, with the British rider managing to shave a good four tenths off his morning’s best in setting a 1’39.329. This reference put him P13 in the day’s combined standings. Having identified areas in which to improve, Bridewell is confident that he and the team can take a solid step tomorrow based on all that they have learned today.

Superbike Advocates Racing will be back on track on Saturday for Superpole qualifying and the first of the weekend’s three races.

Tommy Bridewell (Superbike Advocates Racing #46)
“Not too bad a day, to be honest, but perhaps a little more challenging than we expected. We made quite a big change to the bike between FP1 and FP2 and some aspects worked well while others took us in the wrong direction. I think our race pace is okay, but our one-lap attack pace is not there yet. So, we need to work on that because qualifying is crucial of course; we’ll study the data to try and understand exactly what we’re missing. We have a lot of spin, so improving in that area would already make a difference. As for the conditions, it’s the same for everyone, so cooler conditions would help but only mean that everyone goes faster. We’ll see, but I’m confident we can do more tomorrow.”