Alex Lowes tops Friday Practice at Phillip Island

WorldSBK 2024
Round One – Phillip Island
Friday Round Up

WorldSBK FP2

There were some scattered showers at Phillip Island when pit-lane opened for the 45-minute World Superbike FP2 session at 1600 on Friday afternoon.

Most of the field stayed in their pit-box for the first ten-minutes or so. Then when they actually started getting down to business we had a red flag interruption while Cape Barren Geese were cleared from the track surface.

The first five riders into the 29s were Andrea Locatelli, Michael Rinaldi, Nicolo Bulega, Remy Gardner and Toprak Razgatlioglu. They filled the top five positions in that order with 15-minutes remaining in the session.

Alex Lowes was on top with five-minutes remaining, his 1m29.042 setting the marker for others to chase. At this juncture there were 13 riders in the 29s.

Lowes’ 1m29.042 survived the final five-minutes to keep him on top ahead of Bulega and Petrucci.

Alex Lowes [Kawasaki Racing Team] | P1

“In the pace, we know how strong the Ducati’s are, they have been fast in all testing. Not just Alvaro Bautista and Nicolo Bulega but all the guys, even rookies who haven’t ridden superbikes. I still think they are going to be the bike to beat, but I have done well here in the past with Kawasaki. It’s a strange track this year with how much grip we have, I think it helps us with our bike. When we have grip we’ve seen we can qualify the Kawasaki well and go well, so it might be an easier race for us to start the year. In testing I’ve doing a good job, we’ve been working hard and it’s good to see some hard work paying off. I think my tyres are good and speaking with the Pirelli guys, I had one of the best tyres on Tuesday for the distance. In 2020 I was really slow in the test, maybe 15th thinking I had no chance and then race weekend I nearly won the first race and won the second race because in the end, my tyre was quite good. I think with my riding style and this bike and the SC1 tyre which we dont use with many tracks, I can make the distance on. Tuesday after 19 to 20 laps, my tyre was not bad. I think if it was a longer race, I would have had a good chance maybe not to win but definitely to fight for at least the top positions.”

Jonathan Rea [Pata Prometeon Yamaha] | P16

“Physically a good step forward. We have missed a lot of track time here and i have a big fundamental problem that I can’t get rid of on the bike so we are just working as a team through the items try and eradicate it. Right now it’s unacceptable, but something is not right and we need to find the problem. I can’t say too much, but it’s frustrating for me as well as I would love to tell you the whole story, but it has been a difficult day, one of the most difficult. I have full belief in the guys that we will find it, but it’s not how I dreamed of starting my first round of the World Championship, we are really on the back foot.”

WorldSBK FP2 Times

WorldSBK Combined Times

WorldSSP Superpole

The grid has been set for the first race of the FIM Supersport World Championship, with the #99 machine of Adrian Huertas [Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team] sealing the first Pole Position of the season onboard his Ducati Panigale V2.

Huertas set a new All Time Lap Record in World Supersport, blitzing Manzi’s time set this morning by half a second. The Spanish rider stopped the clock at 1:31.407. But, it wasn’t all smooth sailing for the pole man, who suffered a nasty highside at Turn 11 in the closing minutes of Superpole.

While historically, the World Supersport Superpole session is usually held on Saturday morning, the new schedule is just one of many changes that we will see this season across the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship. With weather vastly different in comparison to what WorldSSP riders had tested with earlier this week, riders had to battle a number of elements during the 40 minute session.

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Yari Montella [BARNI Spark Racing Team] was the second fastest rider to lap the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit, and rounding out the front of the grid at the Grand Ridge Brewery Australian Round for Race 1 was German rider Marcel Schroetter [MV Agusta Reparto Corse], who was four-tenths behind Huertas.

Our Free Practice 1 leader Stefano Manzi [Pata Yamaha Ten Kate Racing] wasn’t able to back up his blisteringly fast pace set this morning, crossing the chequered flag in 4th place with a 1:32.005.

Australian Oli Bayliss [D34G Racing WorldSSP Team] found himself a little bit lower down the timesheets than he would have liked, after technical issues saw him unable to complete any laps during this morning’s 40 minute Free Practice session. Bayliss will be starting Race 1 from 15th position, with the possibility of bettering this starting position for Race 2, with the new look race format.

Despite being a wildcard, our second Aussie on the grid Tom Toparis [Stop and Seal Racing] did a magnificent job in Superpole to finish right behind Bayliss, starting Race 1 tomorrow afternoon in 16th position, with his fastest time set of 1:33.336.

WorldSSP Superpole Results

Phillip Island ASBK/WSBK Schedule

2024 WorldSBK Dates