The Australian Official Test has now drawn to a close, and there could be an evident front pack forming for this weekend’s season-opener at Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit on the 21st – 23rd February.
FREE PRACTICE 3:
Nicolo Bulega dominated Tuesday morning’s two-hour practice session, being the only rider to break into the 1’28s range. His impressive lap time of 1’28.680s, set right at the end of FP3, was around a tenth of a second faster than his best from Monday.
This effort put him nearly half a second clear of Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven), who claimed second place with a 1’29.162s. Iannone narrowly edged out fellow Independent Ducati rider Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team), who finished third with a time of 1’29.182s, making for a close top three separated by just 0.499s.
Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) shrugged off a dramatic Turn 6 highside from FP1 to secure fourth place in FP3, though he was seven-tenths off Bulega’s blistering pace. The gap had been smaller before Bulega’s late flyer. Reigning double WorldSBK Champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) continued his steady progress, finishing fifth as he adapted to his Panigale V4 R. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) led the Yamaha contingent with a 1’29.493s, placing him sixth.
Bimota made a strong impression with both riders inside the top eight. Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) clocked a 1’29.534s for seventh, just ahead of teammate Axel Bassani, who was only a tenth slower in eighth place. Less than a second covered the top eight riders. Xavi Vierge (Honda HRC) led the charge for Honda in ninth, while Scott Redding (MGM BONOVO Racing) rounded out the top ten on his Panigale V4 R.
FREE PRACTICE 4
The final Free Practice session of the day saw only 8 riders enter the circuit on a damp track in the first 1.5 hours of the session. With 30 minutes remaining, it was Danilo Petrucci who found himself leading the way with a 1’43.750 – 14 seconds slower than his fastest time set this morning in dry conditions.
WorldSBK Rookie Ryan Vickers [Motocorsa Racing] proved to enjoy the wet conditions, slotting himself 2 tenths behind Petrucci for majority of the 2-hour long Free Practice session. Following behind was Dominique Aegerter [GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team] and Alvaro Bautista.
Majority of the on-track action further picked up with around 25 minutes remaining. With conditions improving on track, times started to tumble dramatically, with Yari Montella [Barni Spark Racing Team] the first rider to lap under the 40’s time bracket for the session, over 5 seconds faster than Petrucci’s quickest time set at that point of the session.
With 10-minutes remaining, this was the first time we started to see the riders return to their ‘normal’ times, proving the track was drying with each lap spun, albeit still a few tenths off their fastest throughout the two-days.
Ultimately, it was once again Nicolo Bulega who’s name was on the top of the timesheets in the final Free Practice run of the day, with a 1’29.133 – approximately 4 tenths off his fastest time set earlier this morning.
TOP 6 FROM FP4:
1. Nicolo Bulega, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | 1’29.133
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Toprak Razgatlioglu, ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | 1’29.247
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Andrea Locatelli, Pata Maxus Yamaha | 1’29.757
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Andrea Iannone, Team Pata Go Eleven | 1’29.797
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Alex Lowes, bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team | 1’29.808
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Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing – Ducati | 1’29.817
