After an early morning start in the rain, the second test session for the 2024 Superbike World Championship at Phillip Island got off to a slow start due to unappealing weather conditions, with strong gusts of wind and persistent rain. Only Jonathan Rea dared to come out for an initial inspection lap, followed later by Toprak Razgatlioglu and Philipp Öttl. However, red flags had to be waved when birds settled on the runway.
The forced break ultimately allowed the track to improve, and Michael Rinaldi was the first to perform timed laps, gradually lowering lap times. With 18 minutes to go, Andrea Locatelli took the lead, but it's alex lowes of the Kawasaki team who set a new best time six minutes from the end, narrowly ahead of Nicholas Bulega et Locatelli.
Thanks to exceptional performance, Alex Lowes took first place with a time of 1'29.042, breaking the track record. Nicholas Bulega from Aruba.it Racing – Ducati also impressed finishing just behind Lowes, with a time of 1'29.101, just 0,059 seconds behind the leader. For his debut in WSBK, Open up seems to have already found the right rhythm.
Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) achieved the third best combined time, with his FP1 time (1'29.197), followed closely by Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team), who improved significantly from testing, finishing just 0,195 seconds behind Lowes.
Rea, Razgatlioglu and Bautista missed their return to Phillip Island
Another surprise of the day was the performance of Michael van der Mark of the ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team, who achieved fifth place with his BMW M 1000 RR, ahead of the debutant Sam Lowes of the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team.
Andrea Iannone of Team GoEleven made a comeback in style by placing seventh with a time of 1'29.323, after also shining during FP1, ahead of Michael Rinaldi (Motocorsa Racing) and Remy Gardner. Toprak Razgatlioglu finished tenth, but was slowed down on the first lap by several problems.
Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) took eleventh place, ahead of the defending champion Alvaro Bautista, who encountered difficulties with the ballast placed on his Ducati in accordance with the regulations. Axel Bassani (Kawasaki) and Jonathan Rhea (Yamaha) also struggled to keep pace, finishing 15th and 16th respectively. It should be noted that the Honda driver Iker Lecuona was then withdrawn, which is the consequence of his fall during the last test of the offseason WSBK on this same circuit.
WSBK Philipp Island J1: times
