Former MotoGP world champ and multi-million dollar Ducati asset Jorge Lorenzo got his arse handed to him at the Phillip Island round by Karel Abraham - a rider written off by many last year after he struggled to get inside the WorldSBK point scorers.

Abraham, on a Desmosedici GP15, passed Lorenzo's GP17 on lap 18 and then again on the last lap to grab two points and ended as the third Ducati home. Scott Redding finished in 11th on what was a bad day for Bologna and title contender Andrea Dovizoso only had four seconds in hand over Abraham at the line.

“I'm very happy. I think this is a very important result for the team because it brings back the good feeling. I never want anybody to crash but let's say we were unlucky that nothing happened in front of us. Anyway it was a strong race for us, the lap times were good and I was able to run with the factory Ducatis,” said Abraham.

“I had a good fight with Lorenzo and overtook him a couple of times. By the end of the race the front tyre was still good but the rear was spinning and sliding a lot and I was losing drive out of the left-handlers. I was losing grip on entry too and had to play a little with the electronics. On the last lap I prepared one last move on Jorge on the brakes into turn four and made the pass.

“I was sure he was going to get me back somewhere on the corner exit but he didn't and I hung on to 14th. It's not a special result but it was a special race because of the group we were fighting with and to finish 26 seconds behind the winner, I don't think there's any more we could have done in this race."

Lorenzo said: “It was a weekend to forget, because we were never able to be competitive. I started a long way down the grid and was unable to improve my position in the race: after ten or so laps I began to lap consistently and a few tenths quicker than yesterday, but when the performance of the rear tyre dropped it was impossible to keep that pace. In general here all the Ducatis suffered a lot, with the different choices of tyres available, but now we are going to Sepang with confidence, because it’s a track that is certainly better suited to our bike.”