The 2024 World Superbike season begins immediately with the weather affecting the first Friday of the year: at Phillip Island, the rain affected the work programme, especially in the morning session, the riders took to the track almost as soon as the session was over. At the end of the day, however, Alex Lowes came out on top, having set the best time in the Australian afternoon in 1'29”042.
The Kawasaki rider has always shown great efficiency at Phillip Island and confirmed himself at the top on the opening day. In the combined, the Briton precedes Nicolò Bulega by just 59 thousandths. Great start for the rookie, who on board the Aruba team's Ducati grabbed the second fastest time at the end of Friday and is a candidate for victory. Alvaro Bautista also remains one of the favorites despite the difficulties. The reigning champion finishes 12th: not yet 100% physically, the Spaniard didn't take any risks in mixed conditions and is preserving himself for the races (which will be flag-to-flag, here are the details).
The Phillip Island round, however, is full of unknowns, but also surprises. In the first three positions we find three different brands: behind Lowes and Bulega there is Andrea Locatelli, first of the Yamaha representatives and third in free practice on Friday. The Bergamo native precedes his compatriot Danilo Petrucci, who starts the weekend in Australia with the fourth fastest time. Barni is the best of the independents, 195 thousandths from the top.
Surprisingly, the first BMW is not that of Toprak Razgatlioglu, who today preferred not to take risks and is tenth. In fifth position we find Michael van der Mark, who however is not far from the leader. Even the Turk pays only three tenths of Lowes, a sign that the leaders are all very close. The time classification is in fact very short because we have 14 riders within less than eight tenths of a second.
Scrolling through the combined ranking, there is still one Lowes: Sam, making his debut this year with the Ducati of the Marc VDS team. The rookie is sixth ahead of another rookie, Andrea Iannone. The Goeleven team rider begins his Superbike adventure with the seventh fastest time in free practice on Friday and precedes his compatriot Michael Ruben Rinaldi, eighth on the Motocorsa team's Ducati.
With the exception of Locatelli, Yamaha starts the season a bit quietly, with Remy Gardner in ninth position. The home driver is three tenths from the top with the R1 of the GRT team, while his teammate Dominique Aegerter does not go beyond the 13th fastest time. Jonathan Rea is even further behind, only 16th at the end of free practice on Friday. However, the Northern Irishman is recovering from a knee injury sustained in Tuesday's Test crash.
Closing the top 10 is the aforementioned Toprak Razgatlioglu, with Philipp Oettl 11th on his debut on the Yamaha of the GMT94 team. To find the first of the Hondas you have to scroll down the rankings to 14th position, where we find Xavi Vierge. The Spaniard precedes Axel Bassani, very late and 15th, just over a second behind the leader and teammate. Late night for Iker Lecuona, only 20°. In front of him, Bradley Ray's Yamaha MotoXRacing and the two BMWs of the Bonovo team, with Scott Redding and Garrett Gerloff in 18th and 19th position respectively.
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