Alex Lowes ended the opening day of the Phillip Island pre-season test on top, leading an all-British top four in Australia. The Voltcom Crescent Suzuki rider struck in the closing minutes of the day to edge out Kawasaki’s new signing Jonathan Rea, with Leon Haslam and Tom Sykes also setting a strong pace in third and fourth.
For the most part, session 1 belonged to the sister Suzuki with Randy de Puniet topping the timesheets for a long spell. The Frenchman’s 1:32.402 remained unbeaten for almost an hour before Tom Sykes took over but Rea ensured he would strike the first blow between the new British pairing by clocking a 1:31.663 five minutes from the chequered flag.
The morning session was ended prematurely though with de Puniet highsiding in spectacular style at turn eleven, an accident that sidelined the SBK rookie for the afternoon. Suzuki’s fortunes took a turn for the better though with Lowes setting a 1:31.332 two minutes from time, three tenths quicker than Rea’s morning benchmark.
Haslam set the second quickest time of the afternoon, lifting him to third overall, while Tom Sykes fell to fourth, just ahead of the impressive Jordi Torres. Ducati pair Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies were sixth and seventh with the former suffering an accident which may threaten his participation this weekend, while de Puniet’s injury saw him slip to eighth.
The top ten was rounded out by two more rookies with Michael van der Mark and Nicolas Terol next up while defending champion Sylvain Guintoli made a steady start on his return from injury, setting a 1:32.891 for thirteenth.
PHILLIP ISLAND DWO OFFICIAL TEST – FEBRUARY 16
1 | Alex Lowes | Suzuki | Voltcom Crescent Suzuki | 1:31.332 |
2 | Jonathan Rea | Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | 1:31.663 |
3 | Leon Haslam | Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils | 1:31.692 |
4 | Tom Sykes | Kawasaki | Kawasaki Racing Team | 1:31.753 |
5 | Jordi Torres | Aprilia | Aprilia Racing Team – Red Devils | 1:31.783 |
6 | Davide Giugliano | Ducati | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team | 1:31.948 |
7 | Chaz Davies | Ducati | Aruba.it Racing – Ducati SBK Team | 1:32.114 |
8 | Randy de Puniet | Suzuki | Voltcom Crescent Suzuki | 1:32.402 |
9 | Michael van der Mark | Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 1:32.408 |
10 | Nicolas Terol | Ducati | Althea Racing | 1:32.425 |
11 | David Salom | Kawasaki | Team Pedercini | 1:32.588 |
12 | Leon Camier | MV Agusta | MV Agusta Reparto Corse | 1:32.885 |
13 | Sylvain Guintoli | Honda | PATA Honda World Superbike | 1:32.891 |
14 | Niccolo Canepa | EBR | Team Hero EBR | 1:33.124 |
15 | Matteo Baiocco | Ducati | Althea Racing | 1:33.477 |
16 | Sylvain Barrier | BMW | BMW Motorrad Italia SBK | 1:33.497 |
17 | Leandro Mercado | Ducati | Barni Racing Team | 1:33.565 |
18 | Jed Metcher | Kawasaki | Race Center – Demolition Plus | 1:34.382 |
19 | Roman Ramos | Kawasaki | Team Go Eleven | 1:34.577 |
20 | Matthew Walters | Kawasaki | Team Pedercini | 1:34.637 |
21 | Larry Pegram | EBR | Team Hero EBR | 1:35.006 |
22 | Santiago Barragan | Kawasaki | Grillini SBK Team | 1:35.754 |
23 | Gabor Rizmayer | BMW | BMW Team Toth | 1:36.500 |
24 | Christophe Ponsson | Kawasaki | Grillini SBK Team | 1:36.607 |
25 | Imre Toth | BMW | BMW Team Toth | 1:36.873 |