Aprilia 1-2 in World Superbike FP3 at Phillip IslandÂ
Leon Haslam set the pace under cloudy skies at Phillip Island this morning in FP3 for the World Superbike season opener here at the picturesque 4.45km seaside circuit.
Second this morning was Jordi Torres, the Spaniard making a successful switch from the Moto2 ranks and adapting well to the Aprilia RSV4 and making it a Red Devils Aprilia 1-2. Torres also set the fastest speed this morning, clocking 315.8km/h through the speed trap.
Alex Lowes has dominated pre-season testing and also topped the charts on Friday but the Suzuki rider failed to improve on his Friday time during his 12-lap stint this morning and was only eighth quickest, but remains third overall on combined times.
Jonathan Rea was third this morning but ranks fourth on combined time. The Northern Irishman had a hefty tumble yesterday but is obviously showing no ill effects from that crash.
The really big news this weekend though is Troy Bayliss making his surprise stand in role for the injured Aruba Ducati rider Davide Giugliano. Bayliss was a last minute draft in and has not had the pleasure of any pre-season testing, unlike the rest of the field that enjoyed more than 100 laps around the circuit during a two-day test session early this week.
Bayliss’ lack of preparation was further frustrated by a machine failure in FP1, which essentially allowed the Australian only one real flying lap on the Panigale R. Things went a little better in FP2 with Bayliss managing 16 laps but still chasing the basics of set-up with many visits to the box for shock and fork spring changes throughout the session as the Australian chased grip, particularly at the rear.
This morning Bayliss got 14 laps in, much less than 90 per cent of the field but still it allowed him drop 1.2-seconds and improve to a 1m32.529. Predictably, most riders at the top of the table also increased their speed markedly this morning.
Jed Metcher turned his fastest ever lap of Phillip Island this morning to move into a highly creditable 16th overall on combined times, a tenth-of-a-second ahead of Bayliss.
Matt Walters failed to improve on his Friday morning time but remains 19th on combined times and thus makes it through to Superpole.
Interestingly, no rider has set their fastest time of the weekend in the warm Friday afternoon session, but many riders, including Championship contenders Alex Lowes and Tom Sykes, still have their Friday morning FP1 time as their fastest of the weekend. Obviously the Pirelli WSBK rubber has a preference for the cooler morning conditions.
A number of riders momentarily ran off the circuit this morning including Ponsson, Camier, Rea, Terol and Bayliss while Ramos crashed quite heavily at turn six.
The top 20 riders on combined time now progress to the Tissot-Superpole sessions with 10 places on offer for the fastest ten riders from the three free practice sessions to automatically progress to the Pole Position Superpole 2 shootout. The second ten, positions 11 through 20, compete in a 15-minute Superpole 1 session with the top two of that group then granted access to join the top ten and make a top 12 shootout for Pole Position in the Superpole 2 session.  Superpole 1 is scheduled for 1500 this afternoon and Superpole 2 for 1525.  Prior to the Superpole sessions all riders will participate in a 30-minute FP4 session which is not timed for qualifying and is scheduled to take place at 1230.Â
World Superbike 2015 – Round One – Phillip Island
Free Practice 3 Combined Times All Sessions
- Haslam 30.79
- Torres 30.83
- Lowes 30.85 (FP1)
- Rea 31.07
- Terol 31.26
- Davies 31.32
- Sykes 31.40 (FP1)
- Salom 31.48
- Guintoli 31.54
- Vd Mark 31.59
- De Puniet 31.88 (FP1)
- Camier 32.13 (FP1)
- Baiocco 32.15
- Mercado 32.21
- Barrier 32.39 (FP1)
- Metcher 32.42
- Bayliss 32.52
- Canepa 32.54
- Walters 33.09 (FP1)
- Ramos 33.19 (FP1)
- Barragan 33.96
- Pegram 34.32
- Ponsson 34.32
- Rizmayer 34.63 (FP1)
- Toth 36.69 (FP1)
