WorldSBK 2023
Phillip Island Pre-season Test Day
Jonathan Rea was the first man to hit the 1m30 mark today and he did so early in the two-hour second part of the World Superbike at Phillip Island this afternoon.
KRT #65 stands 1m30,889 before going down, and then joining him on deck is reigning world champion Alvaro Bautista!
That score was 1-2 for most of the session and with an hour of track still remaining, the track was quiet as there were no riders on the track. It wasn’t until half an hour later that things really got busy again. Truth be told, it wasn’t exactly an exciting day at the track…
Yet another red flag for the geese then interrupted proceedings with eight minutes remaining in the session, presumably spoiling some of the late-time attacks by many of the riders. Even so, most hold on and then give up on one final jailbreak when the clock is less than four minutes…
After being out of rhythm all day, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the first to show significant improvement. 1m30,674 against Turk on the last lap gave him the lead. Michael Rinaldi then missed a chance to get past him, 1m30,773 against the Italian, giving him P2.
Bautista then got through the first section the fastest… But only 0.006 behind in the first zone, but then lost by almost 2/10 in the second zone and that was his dash finished… P3 for reigning world champion.
So at the end of the first day, we have a Turk leading from an Italian, followed by a Spaniard and a Northern Irishman. Wondering if they will walk into a bar together tonight…
Scott Redding took quite a while to get up to speed in the BMW here today. He languished near the bottom of the field for most of the day before managing to pick up some reasonable pace late in the session. There could be some good reasons for that but we can’t explain them to you yet.
In fact, all BMW runners are a bit slow, Gerloff was the fastest M 1000 RR runner here this afternoon and while the P8 doesn’t sound so bad, he’s behind Rea and Bautista a second. Gerloff was the fastest bike to pass the speed trap at 319.5 km/h.
Remy Gardner hit 1m31,697 in the morning and only slightly improved to 1m31,600 later this afternoon, presumably doing a test run and exploring the setup options on the World Superbike.
Conditions this afternoon are not much warmer than this morning so I don’t believe the track is any slower. P7 is a good start for the Australian as he adapts to Superbike and Pirelli rubber.
Andrea Locatelli went on top of P1 but didn’t go any faster this afternoon and finished in fifth in combined counts ahead of Ducati’s Philipp Oettl.
Alex Lowes improved slightly in the afternoon to 1m32,278 but that was only good enough for 15th on the timesheet.
What’s interesting is that the tires used today are leftover tires here from last season as the latest specification rubber container has yet to arrive and probably won’t be shipped. until this test is over.
The forecast for tomorrow is still good but a little more wind is expected and it could be a few degrees cooler. Things are predicted to heat up on Friday although with temperatures reaching 35 degrees, cooling down to around 28 degrees on Saturday but the chance of showers is slim. Sunday’s forecast is for mostly sunny conditions and temperatures around 25 degrees.
WorldSBK Time Trial
Second combination time
| posture | horseman | nature | Time | Distance | ring |
| first | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | TUR | 1’30,674 | – | 65 |
| 2 | M. RINALDI | ITA | 1’30,773 | 0.099 | 71 |
| 3 | A. BAUTISTA | psychic | 1’30,808 | 0.134 | 88 |
| 4 | J.REA | GBR | 1’30,889 | 0.215 | 52 |
| 5 | A. LOCATELLI | ITA | 1’31.008 | 0.334 | 75 |
| 6 | P. OETTL | GER | 1’31.595 | 0.921 | 65 |
| 7 | R. GARDENER MAN | AUS | 1’31,600 | 0.926 | seventy three |
| 8 | G. GERLOFF | USA | 1’31,671 | 0.997 | 62 |
| 9 | D. AEGERTER | SUI | 1’31,728 | 1.054 | 71 |
| ten | M. VAN DER MARK | NED | 1’31,832 | 1.158 | 63 |
| 11 | I. LECUONA | psychic | 1’31,904 | 1.23 | 71 |
| twelfth | D. PETRUCCI | ITA | 1’32,047 | 1.373 | sixty four |
| 13 | S. DISCOUNT | GBR | 1’32,121 | 1.447 | 63 |
| 14 | A.BASSANI | ITA | 1’32.206 | 1.532 | seventy three |
| 15 | A. LOW | GBR | 1’32,278 | 1.604 | 50 |
| 16 | L. BAZ | FRA | 1’32,293 | 1.619 | 59 |
| 17 | T. SYKES | GBR | 1’32,388 | 1,714 | 43 |
| 18 | X.VIERGE | psychic | 1’32,472 | 1,798 | 54 |
| 19 | O. KONIG | CZE | 1’32,561 | 1.887 | 55 |
| 20 | L. BALDASSARRI | ITA | 1’32,905 | 2.231 | 65 |
| 21 | H. SYAHRIN | GHOST | 1’34.045 | 3.371 | 58 |
| 22 | E. GRANADO | bra | 1’34.235 | 3.561 | 54 |
WorldSBK Maximum speed
| posture | horseman | Bicycle | Speed (km/h) |
| first | G. GERLOFF | BMW M1000RR | 319.5 |
| 2 | M. VAN DER MARK | BMW M1000RR | 317.6 |
| 3 | X.VIERGE | Honda CBR1000 RR-CHEAP | 317.6 |
| 4 | D. PETRUCCI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 316.7 |
| 5 | S. DISCOUNT | BMW M1000RR | 316.7 |
| 6 | J.REA | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 314.9 |
| 7 | A. BAUTISTA | Ducati Panigale V4R | 314.9 |
| 8 | T. RAZGATLIOGLU | Yamaha YZF R1 | 314.9 |
| 9 | I. LECUONA | Honda CBR1000 RR-CHEAP | 314.9 |
| ten | M. RINALDI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 314.0 |
| 11 | D. AEGERTER | Yamaha YZF R1 | 313.0 |
| twelfth | L. BAZ | BMW M1000RR | 313.0 |
| 13 | R. GARDENER MAN | Yamaha YZF R1 | 313.0 |
| 14 | P. OETTL | Ducati Panigale V4R | 311.2 |
| 15 | A. LOW | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 311.2 |
| 16 | A.BASSANI | Ducati Panigale V4R | 309.5 |
| 17 | A. LOCATELLI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 309.5 |
| 18 | H. SYAHRIN | Honda CBR1000 RR-CHEAP | 306.8 |
| 19 | O. KONIG | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 304.2 |
| 20 | T. SYKES | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 302.5 |
| 21 | E. GRANADO | Honda CBR1000 RR-CHEAP | 301.7 |
| 22 | L. BALDASSARRI | Yamaha YZF R1 | 300.0 |
