Australia WorldSBK FP2 Results: Rea denies Bautista late on

Jonathan Rea left it late to top FP2 ahead of Alvaro Bautista, although the WorldSBK champion appears to be the favourite heading into Saturday's opening race in Phillip Island. 

Fourth fastest in FP1, Alex Lowes immediately found more pace as he went fastest to begin FP2.

As the British rider looked set to improve even further on his next effort a red flag was deployed due to Cape Barren geese appearing on track. 

As the session got back underway, Bautista rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with a time of 1:31.570s.

The new world champion then improved by just under a tenth to extend his advantage over Lowes, while Rea was third aboard the second factory Kawasaki machine. 

After a strong showing in FP1, Tetsuta Nagashima was again in fine form aboard the Team HRC Honda bike as he sat inside the top five early on. 

Over 1.3 seconds down on Bautista with 15 minutes gone, Toprak Razgatlioglu’s difficult start to FP2 resulted in him being down in eighth place as improvements were needed. 

Directly behind Rea on track, Bautista went even faster as he put two tenths between himself and Lowes.

Rea and Bautista then switched positions as the Kawasaki rider pulled off the racing line to allow the Ducati rider through. With the Spaniard in front of him, Rea was able to find more pace as he moved ahead of Lowes. 

There was a big moment for Michael Ruben Rinaldi as the Italian ran off track at turn four following a mistake under braking.

Continuing to lead the way, Bautista was demonstrating incredible long-run pace as he continued to lap within three tenths of his fastest time. The Ducati rider was also challenging Rea and Lowes’ best times with more than ten laps on the tyres. 

An impressive lap on his third stint saw Rea close the gap on Bautista to +0.065s. 

Razgatlioglu, who was following Rea, eventually found the type of performance expected as he moved up to fourth place, three tenths off Bautista. 

Just as though Bautista looked safe at the top of the leaderboard, an impressive final stint from Rea saw him challenge the former MotoGP rider on several occasions before finally getting the better of him.

Rea set the fastest lap of the day in order to go quicker than Bautista, while Lowes remained ahead of Razgatlioglu.

Phillip Island WorldSBK Records

Fastest Lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:30.075s

2020 Race Winners

Race 1 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 

Superpole Race - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team

Race 2 - Alex Lowes GBR Kawasaki Racing Team

Rea topped the opening practice in Phillip Island as WorldSBK made its return to Australia for the first time since 2020.

The six-time champion was just 0.022s clear of new WorldSBK champion Bautista, who suffered a rare crash after being followed by Razgatlioglu. 

The Yamaha rider rounded out the top three but was three tenths down on his two rivals. 

Replacing the injured Iker Lecuona, Tetsuta Nagashima made a strong impression on his debut for Team HRC as he finished ninth.

Phillip Island Weekend Schedule

Friday 

Free Practice 1 - 00:30-01:15

Free Practice 2 - 05:00-05:45

Saturday 

Free Practice 3 - 23:50-00:20

Superpole - 02:10-02:25

Race 1 - 05:00

Sunday 

Warm-up - 23:30-23:45

Superpole Race - 02:00

Race 2 - 05:00