The World Superbike tests took place on Tuesday at Phillip Island, and just a few days before the opening round of the season at the same circuit, Toprak Razgatlioglu was the fastest in a very balanced time table.
The day was divided into two sessions. In the morning, Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Ducati) set the pace, surpassing rookie Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven/Ducati) by 0.111s. Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW) followed, with Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) and Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Ducati) completing the top five. The fastest lap was set just over 20 minutes before the end. The session was interrupted by four red flags, two of which were caused by the falls of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) and Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) who had to go through the medical center.
The best times came in the afternoon session. Razgatlioglu led the way with a lap completed in 1m28.511s to beat Bulega by just 74 milliseconds moments before the end of the day. In the overall combined standings of the two sessions, Locatelli once again showed a good pace with third place, ahead of Iannone – one of the few who didn’t improve in the afternoon – and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki). The reigning champion, Bautista, was only seventh, 0.767s off the top. Three red flags interrupted the session due to birds invading the track.
Combined FP1 + FP2 time table:
