The opening day of the WorldSBK season at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit saw Nicolo Bulega live up to his billing as the pre-season favourite.
The Aruba.It Racing – Ducati rider ended the day with an advantage of almost half a second over Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team).
A red flag, due to wildlife on the track, meant that Bulega ended the session with a strong, consistent nine-lap stint. The Italian has shown pace and consistency all week and topped both sessions today. He will be the rider to beat tomorrow at a circuit where he won all three races last year.
In the afternoon session, Alex Lowes made impressive progress. The British rider crashed at Turn 4 to close out his session, but the bimota KB998 Rimini machine has been very impressive today. Axel Bassani backed up his teammate’s speed with fourth on the combined times.
Sam Lowes ended the day third fastest, but a Turn 1 crash for the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team rider was a blot on his copybook. Despite the crash, he completed 33 laps and was the leading Independent Rider today. Alvaro Bautista, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Yari Montella showed the speed of the Independent Ducati teams to end the session fifth, sixth and seventh fastest.
With top ten times in both sessions, Garrett Gerloff impressed for the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team. The American was ninth fastest and showed plenty of progress in his second year aboard the Kawasaki. Gerloff has been reunited with his long-term crew chief, Les Pearson, this season.
The ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team has an all-new rider line-up this year, and Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci were tenth and twelfth fastest as they continue to adapt to the BMW M 1000 RR.
P1 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati):
“Today was a good day because this morning we could test a new setting on the bike. I had a very good feeling when the track was faster and cooler. This afternoon was more difficult with the hotter conditions. Overall, I like the bike and I can push hard. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
P2 – Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team):
“This was a good Friday for us. In FP2 we tried the new tyre Pirelli brought for the weekend. On that longer run I had a bit of traffic. Getting this long run was good practice for the race. When I found some clear track I tried to push harder and I made a small mistake Turn 4 and lost the front. Our pace was strong and whenever I had a clean lap I felt competitive. Bulega is a step ahead, but we’re not far off. It should be an interesting race.”
P3 – Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team):
“Every time I pushed today I was in the 1’29s so that’s good. We are competitive this weekend and we worked hard to understand the tyres. I crashed in FP2 while trying the new rear from Pirelli. Overall, apart from the crash, this has been a positive day. We’re in the fight for the podium but we need to analyse the data because a lot of riders improved in the afternoon.”
Combined Results after FP2
1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’28.858s
2. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.496s
3. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.524s
4. Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) +0.610s
5. Alvaro Bautista (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.624s
6. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) +0.626s
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