WorldSBK P.I. Test final combined times/report

WorldSBK 2023

Phillip Island pre-season Test Day One
World Superbike Tuesday PM

There was quite a stiff wind blowing up the main straight as the final two-hour session got underway at Phillip Island this afternoon. The track temperature was almost ten-degrees warmer than it had been in the morning session, around twice the ambient of 20-degrees.

Those warmer and windier conditions saw few riders lower their markers in the first half hour. Remy Gardner was a notable exception though by lowering his benchmark to 1m31.073 to top the time-sheets.

Alvaro Bautista then got wound up early and dropped in the first 1m30 of the session, a 1m30.404, and then started reeling off quick laps in succession.

Lots of other riders were on long runs but none of them displayed a pace that could go close to matching the world champion.

Toprak Razgatlioglu was still searching for pace, coming in for fork changes around a third of the way the session.

A red flag stoppage halfway through saw everyone return to the pits, yes more geese…

One of those using the interruption to try and make some changes was Remy Gardner, who at this halfway juncture was still P2 on the timing charts in this session. The Aussie reporting that the tyre life dropped away quite dramatically and came in looking for some changes in the aim of trying to achieve some tyre longevity.

Tom Sykes crashed at turn four early in the second half of the session. Bassani also going down.  Petrucci then also joined that club.

With 30-minutes remaining in this session it was still Bautista more than half-a-second quicker than anyone while Gardner remained in P2 but closely followed by Rinaldi, Locatelli, Rea and Razgatlioglu. The Turk had came in yet again for more fork tuning, a shock and gearing change.

Meanwhile Bautista continued to reel off laps that were, for the most part, faster than his competitors best single effort.

Michael Rinaldi came into the pits with just over half an hour remaining for suspension changes at both ends.

Jonathan Rea then went down at turn four but was able to remount and ride back to the pits. Ten minutes later Lorenzo Baldassarri then lit up, literally… The GMT Yamaha man’s YZF-R1M bursting into flames down at Southern Loop which caused a short red flag stoppage with just under 20-minutes left in the session.

Pit lane opened again with 15-minutes left in the session but neither Bautista or Gardner looked in any hurry to get back out on track. Bassani then went down which brought out the yellow flags which saw many riders have their lap times cancelled.

Remy Gardner was back on track with just under ten-minutes remaining, as was Michael Rinaldi and the Italian promptly pushed Gardner back to P3 on the timing monitors.

With two-minutes remaining Dominique Aegerter leapt up the charts after dropping in a 1m30.739 to go P2, pushing Rinaldi back to P3. 

Andrea Locatelli then improved to push Gardner back to P5. Any late charge for Gardner was then cruelled by a bike problem that saw him stop at turn two late in the session.

Alvaro Bautista did not bother going out in that final part of the session, his 1m30.202 from the morning session good enough to stay on top.  On the back of the consistent speed displayed by the Spaniard here this week the signs are ominous for the championship contenders.  This could be primarily a Phillip Island specific situation, but if its not then the rest of them will be battling for the #2 plate this season as over long runs nobody could get anywhere near him today.

On combined times Andrea Locatelli is P2 ahead of Michael Rinaldi, both set their best time on Tuesday morning.

Toprak Razgatlioglu failed to improve today but is P4 thanks to his Monday afternoon time while Jonathan Rea is P5 off his Tuesday morning time.

Dominique Aegerter promoted himself up into P6 thanks to that last minute charge this afternoon but that is the only quick lap the Swiss rider has recorded over the two days. Nonetheless he is confident that his race pace is not too bad.

Philipp Oettl is seventh and Iker Lecuona eighth on their Tuesday morning times.

While Remy Gardner slipped to ninth on combined times he was one of the few riders that made progress in every single session. Gardner’s best of 1m31.073 coming early on in the final session before a long run, and was eight-tenths off Bautista’s outright P1 benchmark. A good start.

For reference the lap record here was set by Tom Sykes at 1m29.230s during the Superpole session on a BMW here in 2020. Thus the times today were not exactly quick and no doubt there were various reasons for that, not just the weather, but also a limited allocation of their preferred tyres.

World Superbike riders will next be on track this Friday, February 24, for the opening 45-minute practice session that marks the first round of the 2023 FIM Superbike World Championship. It is expected to be very warm here on Friday with some forecasts predicting a top of 35-degrees.

The first race of the season will be held on Saturday with a 22-lap contest.  Saturday’s forecast is for a possible shower but mainly fine and a top of around 30-degrees.

The Sunday Superbike Race is scheduled to be run over ten laps at 1300 on Sunday afternoon in cooler conditions. Followed by the third and final race of the weekend at 1600 over 22 laps, 97.79-kilometres.  In comparison the Australian Superbike support races this weekend will be contested over 12 lap 53.34-km distances.

The full schedule for the race weekend can be found further down this page.

WorldSBK Test Times
World Superbike Tuesday PM
Final Combined Times

WorldSBK Top Speeds FP4

Phillip Island WorldSBK Race Schedule