WSBK Phillip Island Test Day Two
The weather held out for the start of the final two-hour WorldSBK pre-season practice session at Phillip Island this afternoon. The ambient temperature was 21.5-degrees and the track temperature 27.5-degrees.
When pit-lane opened at 1340 the pits emptied quickly and the track was suddenly very busy indeed.
Scott Redding exits pit-lane
Jonathan Rea was quickly back in the 1m30s and Scott Redding also dipped into that bracket for the first time this week on his fifth lap out this afternoon before then crashing on the following lap at turn ten. The Briton looked to be limping a little and favouring his hip when he returned to the pits, his V4 R was a little more worse for wear.
Ducati mechanics swarmed around Redding’s V4 R when it came back to the pits
Nothing to do with the earlier Redding incident, but the red flag came out half-an-hour into the session for a brief interlude when Cape Barren Geese invaded the circuit. Riders returned to pit-lane but the track was live again only minutes later.
On his first lap back out Rea improved to 1m30.526, a smidgen off his morning best of 1m30.448. Loris Baz then dropped in a 1m30.781 to further underline his consistent pace.
Alex Lowes
The top of the time-sheets then remained static for quite some time as riders worked on testing various things for their teams.
It was not until there was only 30-minutes remaining in the session that riders started pushing for times once again. Tom Sykes recorded a 1m30.995 before returning to pit-lane. Witnesses reported a smell reminiscent of burning electrics emanating from the Factory BMW.
BMW mechanics chase some not so great smells coming from the S 1000 RR
The final dying minutes of the session though brought little excitement. The track temperature had risen to 32.7-degrees as the afternoon had wore on and it seemed as though few riders were bothering with a last-minute time attack.
Jonathan Rea
That was apart from Loris Baz. The 27-year-old Frenchman improved his afternoon marker to 1m30.758, still slower than his 1m30.524 set this morning. He then cruised for a lap before putting another fast one, 1m31.005.
Loris Baz
Jonathan Rea left pit-lane with only just enough time to make it across the stripe for a final flying lap before the chequered flag came out. He was immediately under at the first split by -0.125, under again at the second but ultimately his 1m30.523 was not quite good enough to beat his morning benchmark of 1m30.448.
Leon Haslam was also a late improver and put his one and only 1m30s lap in during the final stages of the session. A 1m30.882 to the Honda man good enough to push Redding back to fourth for the session. On combined times though Haslam was fifth and Redding sixth, as both Sykes and Razgatlioglu had gone quicker in the morning session.
Leon Haslam
The Honda of Bautista didn’t beat the 322.4 km/h speed he recorded in the morning session, but the new Fireblade was still quickest through the speed traps this afternoon at 317.6 km/h. For comparative purposes, Bautista was the fastest through the speed trap at the Phillip Island WorldSBK race event last year with 322.4 km/h on the Ducati V4 R in practice. Chaz Davies set the fastest speed here last year in a race at 321.4 km/h on the Ducati.
324.6 km/h is the outright fastest speed recorded by a World Superbike here at Phillip Island. That benchmark was set by Max Biaggi in 2012 when there was no engine RPM restrictions in WorldSBK, and no limit on the amount of engines a rider could use in a season. Biaggi is rumoured to have gone through 35 engines that season in the Aprilia RSV4. Restrictions on the number of engines allowed to be used were then introduced to counter this situation and last year only seven engines were allowed to be used by each rider over the course of the season.
Bautista was consistently fastest through the speed traps in all sessions on the new Fireblade
Top speeds are recorded near the 200 metre board heading towards turn one. There are two timing loops set 30 metres apart, the time taken to cross that 30 metres is what is used to calculate the official speed trap figures.
Wayne Maxwell’s time on his ASBK specification Ducati Panigale V4 R at the test here a few weeks ago was 1m31.7. Pirelli shod ASBK runners use the exact same tyre specification as what the WorldSBK riders are using here today but ASBK bikes are very much standard, unlike the heavily modified World Superbike machines. Over the course of a Phillip Island race weekend ASBK riders are permitted three rear tyres, while the much busier WorldSBK riders can use 13 rear tyres over their race weekend.
Alvaro Bautista was the busiest rider over the two days, putting in 126 laps
Alvaro Bautista put in the most laps of any rider this week at 126, 50 of those were recorded in that final two-hour session this afternoon. Alex Lowes was the next hardest worker at 124 and Van der Mark put in 123 laps.
Pace-setter Rea recorded 95 laps over the two days, and examining the lap times he put in across the test he looks to have the competition covered. It would be a brave man to bet against the Northern Irishman here this weekend at the 2020 WorldSBK season opener.
My money is on Jonathan Rea this weekend
Phillip Island WorldSBK Testing
Final Session
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | J. Rea | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m30.523 |
| 2 | L. Baz | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.235 |
| 3 | L. Haslam | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +0.359 |
| 4 | S. Redding | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +0.362 |
| 5 | T. Sykes | BMW S1000 RR | +0.472 |
| 6 | M. Van Der Mark | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.564 |
| 7 | T. Razgatlioglu | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.776 |
| 8 | M. Rinaldi | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +0.884 |
| 9 | S. Cortese | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.042 |
| 10 | X. Fores | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.130 |
| 11 | E. Laverty | BMW S1000 RR | +1.147 |
| 12 | M. Scheib | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.287 |
| 13 | C. Davies | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +1.314 |
| 14 | A. Lowes | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.340 |
| 15 | G. Gerloff | Yamaha YZF R1 | +1.418 |
| 16 | F. Caricasulo | Yamaha YZF R1 | +1.458 |
| 17 | A. Bautista | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +1.482 |
| 18 | L. Camier | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +2.241 |
| 19 | T. Takahashi | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +5.791 |
Phillip Island WorldSBK Testing
Final Combined Times
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | J. Rea | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 1m30.448 |
| 2 | L. Baz | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.076 |
| 3 | T. Sykes | BMW S1000 RR | +0.120 |
| 4 | T. Razgatlioglu | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.292 |
| 5 | L. Haslam | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +0.434 |
| 6 | S. Redding | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +0.437 |
| 7 | M. Van Der Mark | Yamaha YZF R1 | +0.629 |
| 8 | M. Rinaldi | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +0.959 |
| 9 | E. Laverty | BMW S1000 RR | +0.988 |
| 10 | A. Bautista | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +1.005 |
| 11 | C. Davies | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +1.085 |
| 12 | A. Lowes | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.112 |
| 13 | S. Cortese | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.117 |
| 14 | X. Fores | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.205 |
| 15 | M. Scheib | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | +1.362 |
| 16 | G. Gerloff | Yamaha YZF R1 | +1.493 |
| 17 | F. Caricasulo | Yamaha YZF R1 | +1.496 |
| 18 | L. Camier | Ducati Panigale V4 R | +2.228 |
| 19 | T. Takahashi | Honda CBR1000RR-R | +5.866 |
Phillip Island WorldSBK Testing
Tuesday Afternoon Top Speeds
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Speed |
| 1 | A. Bautista | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 317.6 |
| 2 | C. Davies | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 314.9 |
| 3 | L. Haslam | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 312.1 |
| 4 | J. Rea | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 310.3 |
| 5 | S. Redding | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 310.3 |
| 6 | M. Rinaldi | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 310.3 |
| 7 | T. Razgatlioglu | Yamaha YZF R1 | 309.5 |
| 8 | E. Laverty | BMW S1000 RR | 309.5 |
| 9 | A. Lowes | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 308.6 |
| 10 | G. Gerloff | Yamaha YZF R1 | 306.8 |
| 11 | F. Caricasulo | Yamaha YZF R1 | 305.9 |
| 12 | L. Camier | Ducati Panigale V4 R | 305.9 |
| 13 | M. Scheib | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 305.9 |
| 14 | L. Baz | Yamaha YZF R1 | 305.9 |
| 15 | T. Sykes | BMW S1000 RR | 305.9 |
| 16 | M. Van Der Mark | Yamaha YZF R1 | 305.9 |
| 17 | X. Fores | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 305.1 |
| 18 | S. Cortese | Kawasaki ZX-10RR | 300.8 |
| 19 | T. Takahashi | Honda CBR1000RR-R | 290.3 |
WorldSBK Rev Limits
If you want the best explanation of how the WorldSBK rpm based parity system works then take some time to digest this interview with Scott Smart we published last year (Link).
| 2020 Starting Rev Limits WorldSBK | |
| Ducati V4 | 16,100 rpm |
| Honda (2020 SC82) | 15,600 rpm |
| Honda (2019 SC77) | 15,050 rpm |
| MV Agusta | 14,950 rpm |
| Yamaha | 14,950 rpm |
| Suzuki | 14,900 rpm |
| BMW (2020) | 14,950 rpm |
| BMW (2019) | 14,900 rpm |
| Aprilia | 14,700 rpm |
| Kawasaki | 14,600 rpm |
| Ducati V2 | 12,400 rpm |
Phillip Island WorldSSP Testing
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | A. Locatelli | Yamaha YZF R6 | 1m32.831 |
| 2 | R. Krummenacher | MV Agusta F3 675 | +0.657 |
| 3 | J. Cluzel | Yamaha YZF R6 | +0.660 |
| 4 | C. Perolari | Yamaha YZF R6 | +0.850 |
| 5 | P. Oettl | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +0.996 |
| 6 | R. De Rosa | MV Agusta F3 675 | +1.048 |
| 7 | S. Odendaal | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.133 |
| 8 | H. Okubo | Honda CBR600RR | +1.504 |
| 9 | C. Öncü | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +1.532 |
| 10 | L. Mahias | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +1.601 |
| 11 | P. Sebestyen | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.702 |
| 12 | H. Soomer | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.742 |
| 13 | I. Viñales | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.001 |
| 14 | D. Webb | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.085 |
| 15 | C. Bergman | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.499 |
| 16 | F. Fuligni | MV Agusta F3 675 | +2.535 |
| 17 | M. Gonzalez | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +2.552 |
| 18 | A. Verdoïa | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.806 |
| 19 | O. Bayliss | Yamaha YZF R6 | +3.179 |
| 20 | P. Hobelsberger | Honda CBR600RR | +3.204 |
| 21 | J. Van Sikkelerus | Yamaha YZF R6 | +3.236 |
| 22 | L. Cresson | Yamaha YZF R6 | +3.268 |
| 23 | G. Hendra Pratama | Yamaha YZF R6 | / |
Phillip Island WorldSSP Testing
Final Combined Times
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Time/Gap |
| 1 | A. Locatelli | Yamaha YZF R6 | 1m32.831 |
| 2 | R. Krummenacher | MV Agusta F3 675 | +0.657 |
| 3 | J. Cluzel | Yamaha YZF R6 | +0.660 |
| 4 | R. De Rosa | MV Agusta F3 675 | +0.732 |
| 5 | C. Perolari | Yamaha YZF R6 | +0.850 |
| 6 | P. Oettl | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +0.996 |
| 7 | I. Viñales | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.051 |
| 8 | S. Odendaal | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.055 |
| 9 | L. Mahias | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +1.065 |
| 10 | H. Okubo | Honda CBR600RR | +1.504 |
| 11 | C. Öncü | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +1.532 |
| 12 | H. Soomer | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.617 |
| 13 | P. Sebestyen | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.702 |
| 14 | F. Fuligni | MV Agusta F3 675 | +1.778 |
| 15 | D. Webb | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.831 |
| 16 | C. Bergman | Yamaha YZF R6 | +1.939 |
| 17 | M. Gonzalez | Kawasaki ZX-6R | +2.030 |
| 18 | P. Hobelsberger | Honda CBR600RR | +2.634 |
| 19 | A. Verdoïa | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.806 |
| 20 | O. A.Bayliss | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.932 |
| 21 | L. Cresson | Yamaha YZF R6 | +2.976 |
| 22 | J. Van Sikkelerus | Yamaha YZF R6 | +3.236 |
Phillip Island WorldSSP Testing
Tuesday Afternoon Top Speeds
| Pos | Rider | Bike | Speed |
| 1 | A. Locatelli | Yamaha YZF R6 | 271,4 |
| 2 | R. Krummenacher | MV Agusta F3 675 | 270,7 |
| 3 | M. Gonzalez | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 270,7 |
| 4 | C. Perolari | Yamaha YZF R6 | 269,3 |
| 5 | J. Cluzel | Yamaha YZF R6 | 268,7 |
| 6 | P. Oettl | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 268,0 |
| 7 | I. Viñales | Yamaha YZF R6 | 267,3 |
| 8 | C. Öncü | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 267,3 |
| 9 | D. Webb | Yamaha YZF R6 | 266,7 |
| 10 | P. Sebestyen | Yamaha YZF R6 | 266,7 |
| 11 | S. Odendaal | Yamaha YZF R6 | 266,0 |
| 12 | F. Fuligni | MV Agusta F3 675 | 266,0 |
| 13 | R. De Rosa | MV Agusta F3 675 | 265,4 |
| 14 | H. Okubo | Honda CBR600RR | 264,1 |
| 15 | L. Mahias | Kawasaki ZX-6R | 264,1 |
| 16 | L. Cresson | Yamaha YZF R6 | 262,8 |
| 17 | H. Soomer | Yamaha YZF R6 | 262,8 |
| 18 | A. Verdoïa | Yamaha YZF R6 | 262,8 |
| 19 | C. Bergman | Yamaha YZF R6 | 262,1 |
| 20 | P. Hobelsberger | Honda CBR600RR | 260,9 |
| 21 | O. Bayliss | Yamaha YZF R6 | 259,0 |
| 22 | J. Van Sikkelerus | Yamaha YZF R6 | 257,8 |
Images by TBG and GeeBee
Source: MCNews.com.au