Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA

Bautista leads Sykes on final WSBK test day

Ducati World Superbike rider Alvaro Bautista remained on top on the final day of 2019 pre-season testing at Phillip Island, two tenths ahead of nearest rival Tom Sykes.

Álvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing , Ducati

Álvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing , Ducati

SBK Superbike International ltd.

After setting the pace on Monday, Bautista remained in command of the timesheets in both Tuesday sessions, improving on his previous best time by some four tenths in the opening session.

The Spaniard's laptime of 1m30.303s was enough to put him 0.457s clear of GRT Yamaha rider Marco Melandri in second, although his advantage over the field was reduced in the second session.

BMW rider Sykes continued his strong Monday form by setting the second-fastest time behind Bautista, ending up only 0.213s adrift, while reigning British Superbike champion Leon Haslam improved to third, another tenth back, on the best of the Kawasakis.

Four-time champion Jonathan Rea was fourth-fastest in the second session and fifth overall behind Melandri, 0.419s shy of ex-MotoGP rider Bautista.

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WSBK

Jonathan Rea, Kawasaki Racing Team WSBK

Photo by: SBK Superbike International ltd.

Puccetti Kawasaki rider Toprak Razgatlioglu completed the combined top six followed by a trio of Yamaha riders, with Michael van der Mark leading Sandro Cortese and Alex Lowes, who suffered two crashes during the day, first at Turn 1 and later at Turn 4.

Jordi Torres brought a fourth Kawasaki into the top 10 on the satellite Pedercini machine.

Honda once again had a low-key day, with Leon Camier and Ryuichi Kiyonari concluding the Phillip Island test in 13th and 15th places respectively, split by the second factory Ducati of Chaz Davies.

Eugene Laverty (GoEleven Ducati)'s day was brought to a premature halt by technical problems, while Alessandro Delbianco (Althea Honda) likewise didn't run in the afternoon after a crash in the morning.

The next WSBK on-track action will be Friday practice at Phillip Island, with three races to take place at the Australian track as part of the championship's new race weekend format.

Testing times, Day 2:

Pos.  No. Rider Bike Session 1 Session 2
19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Ducati 1'30.303 1'30.326
2 66 United Kingdom Tom Sykes BMW 1'30.777 1'30.539
91 United Kingdom Leon Haslam Kawasaki 1'30.947 1'30.668
33 Italy Marco Melandri Yamaha 1'30.760 1'31.588
1 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 1'30.761 1'30.722
54 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Kawasaki 1'31.445 1'30.840
60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark Yamaha 1'30.911 1'31.293
11 Germany Sandro Cortese Yamaha 1'31.077 1'31.344
22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Yamaha 1'31.272 1'31.168
10  81 Spain Jordi Torres Kawasaki 1'31.808 1'31.224
11  36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Kawasaki 1'31.942 1'31.328
12  28 Germany Markus Reiterberger BMW 1'31.376 1'31.824
13  2 United Kingdom Leon Camier Honda 1'31.443 1'31.477
14  7 United Kingdom Chaz Davies Ducati 1'31.796 1'32.089
15  23 Japan Ryuichi Kiyonari Honda 1'31.860 1'32.388
16  50 Ireland Eugene Laverty Ducati 1'31.986 no time
17  21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 1'32.428 1'32.083
18  52 Italy Alessandro Delbianco Honda 1'32.979 no time
19  17 Australia Troy Herfoss Honda 1'33.130 1'33.953

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Sykes "pleasantly surprised" by BMW test pace
Next article Honda WSBK gains likely to "take time", warns Camier

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

USA