These just in from the Island of Phillip: No surprise as Bulega sets the pace as bimota lead the chase

The opening day of the WorldSBK season at the 4.445km Phillip Island circuit saw Nicolo Bulega live up to his billing as the pre-season favourite. The Aruba.It Racing – Ducati rider ended the day with an advantage of almost half a second over Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team).

A red flag, due to wildlife on the track, meant that Bulega ended the session with a strong, consistent nine-lap stint. The Italian has shown pace and consistency all week and topped both sessions today. He will be the rider to beat tomorrow at a circuit where he won all three races last year.

In the afternoon session, Alex Lowes made impressive progress. The British rider crashed at Turn 4 to close out his session, but the bimota KB998 Rimini machine has been very impressive today. Axel Bassani backed up his teammate’s speed with fourth on the combined times.

Sam Lowes ended the day third fastest, but a Turn 1 crash for the ELF Marc VDS Racing Team rider was a blot on his copybook. Despite the crash, he completed 33 laps and was the leading Independent Rider today. Alvaro Bautista, Lorenzo Baldassarri and Yari Montella showed the speed of the Independent Ducati teams to end the session fifth, sixth and seventh fastest.

With top ten times in both sessions, Garrett Gerloff impressed for the Kawasaki WorldSBK Team. The American was ninth fastest and showed plenty of progress in his second year aboard the Kawasaki. Gerloff has been reunited with his long-term crew chief, Les Pearson, this season.

The ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team has an all-new rider line-up this year, and Miguel Oliveira and Danilo Petrucci were tenth and twelfth fastest as they continue to adapt to the BMW M 1000 RR.

P1 – Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati):
“Today was a good day because this morning we could test a new setting on the bike. I had a very good feeling when the track was faster and cooler. This afternoon was more difficult with the hotter conditions. Overall, I like the bike and I can push hard. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

P2 – Alex Lowes (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team):
“This was a good Friday for us. In FP2 we tried the new tyre Pirelli brought for the weekend. On that longer run I had a bit of traffic. Getting this long run was good practice for the race. When I found some clear track I tried to push harder and I made a small mistake Turn 4 and lost the front. Our pace was strong and whenever I had a clean lap I felt competitive. Bulega is a step ahead, but we’re not far off. It should be an interesting race.”

P3 – Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team):
“Every time I pushed today I was in the 1’29s so that's good. We are competitive this weekend and we worked hard to understand the tyres. I crashed in FP2 while trying the new rear from Pirelli. Overall, apart from the crash, this has been a positive day. We’re in the fight for the podium but we need to analyse the data because a lot of riders improved in the afternoon.”

<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>> Bulega tops Friday's timesheets at Phillip Island. Lecuona makes progress throughout the day to finish P8. Tomorrow the first race in the 2026 WorldSBK season.
The 2026 WorldSBK season officially began today at the iconic Phillip Island circuit (Australia).
After two days of testing earlier this week, the first free practice sessions of the Australian Round took place this morning, illuminated by warm sunshine that ensured ideal weather conditions for the afternoon session as well.

As in testing, Nicolò Bulega finished at the top of both FP1 and FP2, working hard on tyre choice, including a productive long run that saw him lap consistently in the low 1'29s.

Iker Lecuona continued to make steady progress, recording the seventh fastest time in the afternoon (eighth in the combined standings), just two tenths of a second off the hypothetical front row.

The complete data analysis of the free practice sessions is available in the download section.

Nicolò Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #11)
“I am very satisfied, especially with how things went this morning: the feeling with my Panigale V4 R was really good. In the afternoon, I didn't have the same feeling, probably because the asphalt was hotter. In any case, it was an extremely positive day.”

Iker Lecuona (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7)
“We worked very well, managing to improve lap after lap. I feel I'm starting to recognise the limit, and this is very important for making significant progress. Things went very well in the afternoon, and I managed to gain 3-tenths of a second compared to FP1. There is a lot of confidence: we are on the right track.”


<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Xavi Vierge and Andrea Locatelli began the first round of the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship in earnest with Friday Free Practice at Phillip Island in Australia today.

An additional Pirelli tyre option for the race weekend, differing from the test earlier in the week, meant a new “starting position” for both Pata Maxus Yamaha riders when the pit lane opened this morning for Free Practice 1.

Finishing the day P10 on FP2’s timesheet, Vierge was pleased with the work completed together with his #97 crew and gained confidence from technical changes made to improve the rear grip and stability of his Yamaha R1 WorldSBK. His goal is to find a couple of tenths in outright lap pace, in an effort to qualify on the front two rows of the grid tomorrow.

Locatelli was chasing a big improvement in feeling following a challenging test on Monday and Tuesday, and made positive steps in the right direction. Further work will be completed overnight with the data collected today in optimal warm, sunny conditions, and the #55 rider vows to fight until the end in the opening races of the season.

Saturday on the island begins with Free Practice 3 at 10:00 local time (GMT+11), the first Superpole qualifying of 2026 at 13:00 and then the lights will go out for Race 1 to get underway at 16:00.
 
Xavi Vierge: P11 – 1'29.806

“It has been a solid start – we’ve been working on the fine tuning for my R1 WorldSBK set-up. We found something that helped me a little bit to keep a good pace and we won quite a lot of confidence with the rear of the bike, so this is very important. We know where we need to improve as well and we worked hard this afternoon to try to find the few tenths of a second that we are missing, because everything is super tight in the middle of the field. With two-tenths, we can be in the first or second row. The small details matter and I think we are working in the right direction.”


Andrea Locatelli: P15 – 1'30.060

“Day One at Phillip Island is done! The goal was to try to get the feeling more and more as I need, after the difficult test. The conditions were a bit different with respect to testing, but we are also trying to improve my feeling on the bike. I am more comfortable now, we are still missing something but I want to keep positive vibes to try to be faster tomorrow and to keep building for this first race weekend. We will work tonight, stay positive and cross the fingers a bit that we can make a good step forward and as always, fight until the end.”



<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>Nagashima at work on day 1 of the 2026 WorldSBK Opener

The Honda HRC team kicks off the 2026 WorldSBK season at Phillip Island with Tetsuta Nagashima while british Ryan Vickers is racing as wildcard with the Honda HRC test team

The 2026 Superbike World Championship is officially underway at Australia’s Phillip Island Circuit, where Honda HRC is fielding factory test rider Tetsuta Nagashima in place of permanent entries Jake Dixon and Somkiat Chantra, sidelined this weekend due to injury.

With Dixon having undergone surgery in Melbourne yesterday to stabilize fractures in his hand and wrist sustained while testing just days ago, both he and Chantra will now focus on recovering in a safe and timely fashion.

Free practice got underway on a dry track at 11.20 am local time (CET +10), marking the start of another exciting race season. Having tested at this track just three days ago, Nagashima and his technicians were able to make good use of the data and findings from that test as they head into this race weekend. Nagashima worked hard during the opening practice as he and the team made adjustments to the setup of the CBR1000RR-R. By the end of this first phase, the Japanese rider had completed 21 laps, the best in 1’30.560 to place eighteenth.

The afternoon brought a second (dry) practice – air temp. 22°C, track temp. 46°C – during which the Japanese rider continued to prepare for the weekend’s three race. The session was briefly red flagged in the early stages after a wallaby made its way onto the track, but the SBK field was soon back to work. Doing his best to fully exploit the 45-minutes of track time, Tetsuta showed consistency. Improving on his FP1 best in the final moments (1’30.320), he rounded out the day in 17th position in the combined standings seven thousands of a second off fellow Honda rider Ryan Vicker, in 16th.

Honda HRC will be back out on Saturday for a final free practice, Superpole qualifying and the first of the weekend’s 22-lap races.

Tetsuta Nagashima 45
P17

“Overall, the first day here at Phillip Island has been positive. The conditions were good, similar to what we had during the test earlier this week, and I was able to improve my lap time compared to those sessions, which is encouraging. My feeling with the bike is improving step by step, including on the electronics side. I’m understanding more about the package every time I go out, and that’s very important from a development point of view. Being on track together with the other riders also helps, because it allows me to better evaluate certain aspects and compare different situations. I’m not pushing like crazy — I’m focusing on feeling everything: the bike, the electronics, how it reacts. Then we make changes and try to improve gradually. I think we are working in a good direction. Tomorrow I will try and put the tester role slightly aside and try to ride a bit more like a regular race rider, pushing a little more to see what we can achieve. At the same time, I will continue collecting data for the future.”

>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<BbKRT Makes Strong Start To New Season

The first day of practice in the 2026 FIM Superbike World Championship got underway at the famous Phillip Island Grand Prix circuit in Australia on Friday 20 February, with both BbKRT riders inside the top four places at the finish.

bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team (BbKRT) rider Alex Lowes concluded his first day in second position in the combined timesheets, while Axel Bassani was fourth fastest on his bimota KB998 Rimini machine.

A lot of preparation for the opening day of the latest WorldSBK campaign had been done during a two-day ‘PI’ test on Monday 16 and Tuesday 17 Feb. The tyre allocation for the race has, however, been modified since then, leading to some evaluation of the latest tyre option during free practice.

Each BbKRT rider improved their best times from FP1 to FP2, with Lowes setting a 1’29.345 and Bassani a 1’29.468. Nicolo Bulega was the fastest rider on Friday, by setting a 1’28.858. The race action was halted in FP2 for a time, after a wallaby crossed the track. After the restart, FP2 went to its full conclusion without further interruptions.

Now a third Free Practice session and then Tissot-Superpole Qualifying will take place on Saturday 20 February, shortly before the first 22-lap race of the season gets underway at 16.00 local time in Australia.

Alex Lowes stated: “We made a small change to the bike in the second session, and it was maybe not in the right direction. It was the first run with the new tyre we have in our weekend allocation, so I wanted to do lots of laps to understand it. It felt quite good and strong. I do feel good on the bike, and quite comfortable. I am looking forward to the first race on Saturday. I don’t think I will be in Bulega’s race, but after him there are maybe five guys with similar speed.”

Axel Bassani stated: “Friday has been quite a good day, and we always worked in a good way. In FP1 the feeling was not the same that I had in the tests a few days ago - but in FP2 we made some small changes and the feeling came back. We also did a lot of runs and the pace has been consistent, but we are missing some tenths, I think. We will work even more for tomorrow and find a little more pace, then we will see how things are. We worked on both the front and rear of the bike, but in general we did not make big changes, even during the official tests, because the base is quite good.”

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