It is finally Superbike time in Australia, where the riders had the opportunity to make a last session test just one week ago to prepare themselves at the beginning of the Championship. Phillip Island is going to host once again the opening round of World Superbike, a magical place where we saw some crazy races on the past and we expect to see some good action also in 2020.

At the end of first day it was rookie Scott Redding who topped the time sheet, being fastest overall. The first turn of free practice saw tricky condition with a wet asphalt, but the Briton from Ducati seemed to be fast in every condition and led the way also in FP1 ahead of Loris Baz and Leon Haslam, with the two who had a consistent gap (over one second).

The real action came during the afternoon, with a dry FP2 where the guys could express their pace and work on a fast lap and on the race pace. It was still Scott Redding the fastest rider on track, with 2019 BSB Champion who made a good chrono considering that Toprak Razgatlioglu, 2^nd at the end, was slower for five tenths of a second. Anyway, the Turkish is fast and kept showing how comfortable he is with his new Yamaha.

3^rd was Razgatlioglu’s teammate, Michael Van Der Mark, who tried a time attack but was not able to snatch first position from Scott Redding. Leon Haslam follows him after leading the session for a while and ended in 4^th, ahead of Loris Baz, who made a lot of good laps. World Champion Jonathan Rea finished 6^th, while Tom Sykes and Alex Lowes are 7^th and 11^th. It is still too early to say if Rea will struggle during the races, but we are sure that he will fight for the victory.

Alvaro Bautista made progress with his Honda after struggling a bit during the tests and in the first session of free practice as well. The Spaniard ended in 8^th even if his turn was compromised by a small crash at Stoner’s corner. Michael Ruben Rinaldi was 9^th fastest despite a technical problem at the beginning of the session, but was able to come back on track and do a good lap overall.