Bulega tops bruising opening day of WorldSBK Testing at P.I. TechTricks365

WorldSBK 2025

Phillip Island Test – Day One

World Supersport riders kicked the final pre-season testing action off at Phillip Island under cool yet clear skies on Monday morning. Early activity buzzed in the pit lane as teams prepared their machines, but the track remained relatively quiet when the Superbike session began just before noon.

Nicolo Bulega immediately set a formidable pace. The Aruba.it Ducati rider was soon joined in the 29s by Barni Spark Ducati’s Danilo Petrucci.

However, the session was marred by incidents: Toprak Razgatlioglu experienced a dramatic high-side at Turn 6 (Siberia) on his third lap, sidelining him for the remainder of the morning session.

Jonathan Rea also faced misfortune, crashing at Turn 2 (Southern Loop). The 38-year-old was transported to the circuit’s medical centre and then to Cowes for further evaluation, where multiple fractures to his left foot were confirmed.

This injury rules Rea out of both the test sessions and the upcoming race weekend at Phillip Island—a significant setback for the six-time Superbike World Champion. Will his YZF-R1M remain vacant this weekend, or will the team call-up someone else to throw a leg over the Factory Yamaha this weekend?

In the afternoon, Razgatlioglu returned to the track, joining Bulega, Petrucci, and Alvaro Bautista in posting times in the 1:29 bracket. The reigning world champion improved his performance, moving up to second place, though he still trailed Bulega by half a second.

Andrea Iannone later surpassed Razgatlioglu, securing second with a 1:29.263 lap, resulting in a Ducati 1-2 at the top of the timesheets.

Bulega continued to dominate, recording the day’s first sub-1:29 lap with a 1:28.979, and then bettered it next lap around, the new benchmark a 1m28.765 to extend his lead over the field.

A red flag interrupted the final session with just under 12 minutes remaining due to birds on the track. Although riders returned to the circuit, there were minimal improvements.

Bulega had set the 28.765 benchmark on an SC0, but he also managed a 29.1 on a race tyre…. Phillip Island is his favourite circuit, and today’s conditions were favourable thanks to negligible wind.

Ducati riders suggested they could do a full race distance, as they are suffering negligible degradation. Toprak also told us that he did a 29.9 on an 18-lap old tyre.

Danilo Petrucci concluded the day in fourth, narrowly ahead of fellow Ducati rider Alvaro Bautista.

Alex Lowes has a great track record here at Phillip Island and made a promising debut on the Bimota KB998 to finish the opening day sixth on the time-sheets.

Andrea Locatelli was the fastest Yamaha rider, finishing seventh, followed by Ryan Vickers on the Motocorsa Ducati. Xavi Vierge made a late surge to claim ninth for HRC.

Garrett Gerloff experienced a crash at Turn 4 with 25 minutes left in the afternoon session. Despite this, the sole Kawasaki rider had a pretty good day and rounded out the top ten.

Local favourite Remy Gardner suffered a morning crash at Turn 2, which significantly damaged his GRT Yamaha. He completed numerous laps in the afternoon but struggled to break into the top 15, eventually improving to 13th late in the day.

Glenn Van Straalen and Yuki Okamoto both crashed in the second Supersport session. The Dutchman was diagnosed with a concussion. The Japanese rider suffered a ‘coccygeal fracture and dislocation’, ouch.

With around ten minutes remaining in the final Supersport session, Caricasulo crashed at turn 12, which brought out the red flag. The 28-year-old was conscious but stretchered away and taken to the medical centre for further investigation, where he was diagnosed with a fractured right (distal radius) wrist that will likely rule him out of this weekend’s season-opening round. The Italian also reportedly suffered some facial trauma in the incident.

Bo Bendsneyder finished the day on top in Supersport on the MV Agusta F3 800 RR ahead of a triumvirate of Ducati Panigale V2 machines headed by Valentin Debise.

It is the early days for Yamaha’s new YZF-R9 but Can Oncu gave them some reason to smile with a seventh place ranking on day one. The Turk was just ahead of local star Oli Bayliss on a Triumph, while Luke Power made it two Aussies in the top ten with an encouraging start on the Motozoo MV Agusta.

Testing continues tomorrow for riders and teams to fine-tune their set-ups ahead of the season opener at Phillip Island this coming weekend.

Day One
World Superbike Times

Day One
World Supersport Times

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