WSBK Phillip Island Test Day One Times/Speeds/Report

Alvaro Bautista fastest in both sessions

WorldSBK 2019 Phillip Island Test
Day 1 – PM Report

A stiff wind caused riders all sorts of problems this afternoon and of the morning top ten it was only Tom Sykes on the new BMW, and the man that replaced him on the KRT ZX-10R, Leon Haslam, that successfully battled the breeze to lower their markers this afternoon. Sykes moving up to fourth quickest on combined times just ahead of Haslam.

Morning or afternoon, wind or no wind, the consistently fastest man of the day was Alvaro Bautista but it was his morning time that remained the fastest overall. The #19 Ducati Panigale V4 R the only machine to dip under the 1m31s benchmark today, a 1m30.743 the best of three laps in a row that the 34-year-old recorded in that 1m30s bracket during FP1.

Bautista’s best time is actually under the 1m30.848 race lap record set by Marco Melandri during last year’s second World Superbike race at Phillip Island on the V-Twin Panigale. The outright World Superbike lap record though belongs to Jonathan Rea who put in a 1m29.573 during qualifying here two years ago.

Bautista’s Ducati team-mate Chaz Davies has not had such an enjoyable day. A technical gremlin this morning saw his Panigale V4 R roll to a stop at Siberia, then this afternoon the Welshman was plagued by agonising back spasms. The 32-year-old ending day one 13th on combined times.

Another rider not having any fun today was Troy Herfoss as the Penrite Honda squad try to get a handle on the new bike they have built for this one-off World Superbike wildcard effort. Proceedings are not going well at all thus far and the team will be scratching their heads. Herfoss rounded out the tail end of the timesheets today with a 1m34.961 in FP1. Worryingly he could only muster a 1m35.475 from his 13 laps this afternoon.

The reigning ASBK Superbike Champion went more than two-seconds faster than today’s best in race trim aboard the ASBK, almost Superstock spec’, Fireblade here back in October. Some serious head scratching and spanner twirling going to be undertaken in that pit garage this evening…

Alex Lowes is showing encouraging speed on the Pata Yamaha to clock the second fastest time of the day ahead of Jonathan Rea.

Along with Tom Sykes in fourth, that made for four different brands filling the top four spots on the day’s combined times.

Marco Melandri was sixth quickest ahead of fellow Yamaha riders Michael Van der Mark and Sandro Cortese.

Markus Reiterberger and Toprak Razgatlioglu rounded out the top ten ahead of the leading Honda of Leon Camier.

WorldSBK RPM Limits

Overnight Dorna released updated RPM limits for the 2019 WorldSBK season that will be in place for the start of the season. If a single type of machine looks to have much of an advantage these limits will be reduced further during the season.  The new BMW will start season 2019 with a 14,900 rpm limit while the Kawasaki will be pegged to 14,600 rpm.

The new Ducati Panigale V4 R will start with a 16,350 rpm limit, but with both Bautista and Davies clocking by far the fastest speeds in today’s morning session, one would expect that the Ducati rev limit to be reduced in due course…

World Supersport

In the World Supersport ranks it was a Yamaha 1-2 in both the morning and afternoon sessions but while Caricasulo topped FP1 it was team-mate Randy Krummenacher that went fractionally faster in FP2 to top the day on combined times.

Goulburn youngster Tom Toparis had been inside the top ten in the morning session but on combined times this afternoon the 18-year-old slipped to 14th. Still a highly creditable results in the 24-rider field. We spoke to him at the end of proceedings today and that interview can be found at this link.

WorldSBK Testing Phillip Island
Day One Combined Times / Best Speeds

1. Alvaro Bautista – Ducati 1m30.743 – 314.9 km/h
2. Alex Lowes – Yamaha 1m31.146 – 308.6 km/h
3. Jonathan Rea – Kawasaki 1m31.189  – 308.6 km/h
4. Tom Sykes – BMW 1m31.300  – 303.4 km/h
5. Leon Haslam – Kawasaki 1m31.399 – 308.6 km/h
6. Marco Melandri – Yamaha 1m31.445 – 314 km/h
7. Michael VanderMark – Yam 1m31.458 – 304.2 km/h
8. Sandro Cortese – Yamaha 1m31.639 – 304.2 km/h
9. Markus Reiterberger – BMW 1m31.992 – 300.0 km/h
10. Toprak Razgatlioglu – Kaw 1m32.050 – 302.5 km/h
11. Leon Camier – Honda 1m32.459 – 307.7 km/h
12. Jordi Torres – Kawasaki 1m32.670 – 300.0 km/h
13. Chaz Davies – Ducati 1m32.706 – 313 km/h
14. Leandro Mercado – Kaw 1m32.789 – 300.8 km/h
15. Eugene Laverty – Ducati 1m32.797 – 305.1 km/h
16. Ryuichi Kiyonari – Honda 1m32.962 – 306.8 km/h
17. Michael Rinaldi – Ducati 1m33.402 – 307.7 km/h
18. A Delbianco – Hon 1m33.949 – 292.7 km/h
19. Troy Herfoss – Honda 1m34.961 – 295.1 km/h

WorldSSP – Combined Practice Times

1. KRUMMENACHER Randy SUI Yamaha 1’33.820
2. CARICASULO Federico ITA Yamaha 1’33.882 +0.062
3. CLUZEL Jules FRA Yamaha 1’34.198 +.378
4. MAHIAS Lucas FRA Kawasaki 1’34.222 +0.402
5. DE ROSA Raffaele ITA MV Agusta 1’34.293 +0.473
6. OKUBO Hikari JPN Kawasaki 1’34.584 +0.764
7. BARBERA Hector ESP Yamaha 1’34.751 +0.931
8. GRADINGER Thomas AUT Yamaha 1’34.753 +0.933
9. PEROLARI Corentin FRA Yamaha 1’34.850 +1.030
10. VINALES Isaac ESP Yamaha 1’35.369 +1.549
11. SOOMER Hannes EST Honda 1’35.516 +1.696
12. SEBESTYEN Peter HUN CIA Honda 1’35.581 +1.761
13. CRESSON Loris BEL Yamaha 1’35.588 +1.768
14. TOPARIS Tom AUS Landbridge Transport Yamaha 1’35.690 +1.870
15. FULIGNI Federico ITA MV AGUSTA 1’35.762 +1.942
16. BADOVINI Ayrton ITA Kawasaki 1’35.974 +2.154
17. VAN SIKKELERUS Jaimie NED Honda 1’36.150 +2.330
18. HERRERA Maria ESP Yamaha 1’36.214 +2.394
19. DANILO Jules FRA Honda 1’36.421 +2.601
20. RUIU Gabriele ITA Honda 1’36.569 +2.749
21. COPPOLA Alfonso ITA Honda 1’36.629 +2.809
22. CALERO Nacho ESP Kawasaki 1’36.647 +2.827
23. HARTOG Rob NED Kawasaki 1’37.043 +3.223
24. VAN STRAALEN Glenn NED Kawasaki 1’37.273 +3.453

WorldSSP – Free Practice 2 Times / Speeds

1. F Caricasulo (ITA) Yamaha 1’33.882 – 272.7 km/h
2. R Krummenacher (SUI) Yam 1’34.226 +0.346 – 266.7 km/h
3. R De Rosa (ITA) MV Agusta 1’34.293 +0.411 – 270.0 km/h
4. J Cluzel (FRA) Yamaha 1’34.539 +0.657 – 266.0 km/h
5. H Okubo (JPN) Kawasaki 1’34.584 +0.702 – 272.0 km/h
6. L Mahias (FRA) Kawasaki 1’34.807 +0.925 – 270.0 km/h
7. I Vinales (ESP) Yamaha 1’35.369 +1.457 – 268 km/h
8. C Perolari (FRA) Yamaha 1’35.695 +1.814 – 264.7 km/h
9. T Toparis (AUS) Yamaha 1’35.725 +1.843 – 262.1 km/h
10. A Badovini (ITA) Kawasaki 1’35.974 +2.002 – 256.5 km/h
11. H Soomer (EST) Honda 1’36.305 +2.423 – 260.9 km/h
12. F Fuligni (ITA) MV Agusta 1’36.313 +2.431 – 264.7 km/h
13. L Cresson (BEL) Yamaha 1’36.313 +2.431 – 272 km/h
14. P Sebestyen (HUN) Honda 1’36.331 +2.449 – 265.4 km/h
15. H Barbera (ESP) Yamaha 1’36.636 +2.754 – 265.4 km/h

WorldSBK  Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit

Event Schedule, 22 – 24 February 2019