SBK – Bautista and the new Panigale V4 R set the pace

Bruno Gomes

February 18, 2019

Alvaro Bautista | Photo credits: GPon

World Superbike riders and respective teams are already on their final preparations before the first round of the season, to be held at the tricky Phillip Island circuit, Australia. While most of the tests done during the Winter break were done on European circuits, teams and riders went to Phillip Island a week before the first round to do a last test and tune the bikes. On the first day of testing, the fastest rider on track was World Superbike rookie Alvaro Bautista, who took his Panigale V4 R to the top spot.

The Spaniard and his Aruba.it Ducati were untouchable today, and even though the strong winds that affected the afternoon sessions made it impossible for riders to get better lap times after lunch time, Bautista clocked in the best lap of the day with 1m30.743s, one tenth of a second faster than lap record held by Marco Melandri, who did a lap in 1m30.848s last season with the twin-cylinder Panigale R.

Second fastest rider was Alex Lowes (PATA Yamaha WorldSBK), who was able to clock in a total of 77 laps during this first day of testing. The British rider was a fraction of a second faster than world champion Jonathan Rea, who took the day to tune his Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10RR for the best race setup. The champion put in an impressive set of laps in 1m32s, meaning the “green machine” is already at a good level for the first round.

With Tom Sykes giving BMW Motorrad a reason to smile, ending the day with the fourth best time, eight riders ended separated by just eight tenths. The surprise of the day was Chaz Davies, with the Aruba.it Ducati rider being unable to get to the top spots, after a technical issue on his new Panigale V4 R stopped him from getting track time.

Honda, who this season returns as an official HRC team, with the help of Moriwaki and Althea racing, is still on the early stages of development on the CBR1000RR Fireblade SP2. Leon Camier was the fastest Honda rider, ending with the 11th fastest time, while Ryuichi Kiyonari took the second factory Honda to the 16th spot on the timesheets.

Testing in Phillip Island will continue tomorrow, and iMotorbike will be bringing you all the results of this test session. Stay tuned!