Yamaha new boy Toprak Razgatlioglu secured the fastest time on the opening day of WorldSBK testing at Phillip Island with his very last lap.
His 1’30.740 was 0.022 seconds faster than the second best rider, on a day that featured several red flag stoppages.
Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad) scored the second best time of day one, his 1’30.762 lap easing out the tall figure of his old team mate from their Kawasaki days, Loris Baz (Ten Kate Yamaha) into third place. Baz was just 0.037 seconds from Razgatlioglu.
The merest fall of rain, just as the WorldSBK riders were about to head out to complete the afternoon test session at Phillip Island held back proceedings for a time but eventually they all took to the track for the second time, with Jonathan Rea (KRT) soon lifting himself above the morning’s fastest rider, Sykes. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) was up to third at this stage.
After the rain cleared, the final top three was Razgatlioglu, Sykes and Baz, all pushing Jonathan Rea (KRT) into fourth place on the largely unchanged 2020 Kawasaki.
A top five finish for Honda and Leon Haslam saw the HRC Fireblade less than half a second back from the best and one position ahead of Redding, who ended day one sixth.
Haslam’s teammate Alvaro Bautista was down in 15th and 1.8s off. The 2019 triple race winner at Phillip Island will be aiming to get back on the pace on Tuesday.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) was seventh and the ever-improving mix of Eugene Laverty and S1000RR BMW was eighth. After a late crash Alex Lowes was ninth, and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Ducati) tenth.
On the fringes of the top ten was Sandro Cortese (OUTDO Kawasaki TPR) in 11th, as he aims to gel with the ZX-10RR. Michael Rinaldi (Team GOELEVEN) was 12th, ahead of Xavi Fores (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and an impressive Maximilian Scheib (ORELAC Racing VerdNatura).
Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Junior Team) was in 16th, one place ahead of teammate Garrett Gerloff, while still-injured Leon Camier (Barni Racing Team) was 18th on his return.
The new MIE Honda of Takumi Takahashi did not make it out in the afternoon after his bike suffered a blow-up, which caused a significant oil leak on the track at T3/4, ending the morning session ahead of the scheduled time.
