MirSBK

The first session that matters, the first that matters for the 2024 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship: Tissot’s Superpole at the Phillip Island Circuit for the Australian Grand Ridge Brewery round was incredible. In perhaps the most memorable superfield of recent years, newcomer Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) beat Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) in the final minutes to complete a double on the grid for the first time in WorldSBK history.

HISTORY OF SUPERFLOOR: First laps

All the riders took to the track almost immediately, with Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) first ahead of Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and teammate Michael van der Mark went out together, followed by Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW), who did the same at the Jerez test, causing a fight with the Dutchman. Gerloff took first place at the start of the session.

After the first laps, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) took first place and set a new record, even faster than the official test times, ahead of Nicolo Bulega and Dominik Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team). Bautista dropped to 12th behind Andrea Iannone’s Ducati Independentiente, while Jonathan Rea (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) was 15th. With eight minutes remaining, van der Mark was unable to set the time after a low-speed crash at turn four.

SECOND ROUND: Yamaha work together and close down the clock.

With seven minutes remaining, Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) was the first back on track, followed by teammate Rea, who was still unhappy. On his first lap of the second stint, Rea encountered several drivers emerging from the pit lane and had a scare at turn four. Despite this, the lap was good enough to take sixth place. Meanwhile, Bautista moved into fifth place with three minutes remaining.

CRAZIEST FRONT ROW: Bulega drops to 1:27, Iannone starts second

Iannone took provisional pole, to the delight of the entire GoEleven team. However, Bulega surpassed him and even improved his time, setting the first 1’27 at Phillip Island in WorldSBK – 1’27.916. Iannone finished second, confirming the double of the rookies, Italians and Ducati, with Alex Lowes third, some three tenths back.

Bulega becomes the first rookie to take WorldSBK pole on debut since Ben Spies at Phillip Island in 2009 with Yamaha, as well as the first rider in history to take back-to-back WorldSSP and WorldSBK poles in consecutive rounds, and the first Italian to take pole at Phillip. Island in WorldSBK. For the first time in WorldSBK history, two rookies will start from 1st and 2nd place on the grid, and the first time in 31 years (and the second in history) that two Italians with Ducati occupy the first two places on the grid. The last time was with Mauro Lucchiari and Giancarlo Falappa at Misano in 1993. Were you in 3rd place that day? Kawasaki like today with Scott Russell.

SECOND ROW: Egerter flies, Toprak scores a solid P5

On the second row of the grid will be two-time WorldSSP champion Dominik Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in fourth, followed by Toprak Razgatlioglu, who is in his first Superpole for BMW, albeit 0.009 seconds slower than his time in Tuesday’s official test . His former teammate Andrea Locatelli completes the second row in sixth position.

THIRD ROW: Australian, debutant and champion.

Leading the third row, local Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) placed three Yamahas in the top 7, with Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) finishing a good eighth after his impressive crash in FP3 at Turn 12. One of the biggest surprises is that the winner of eight of the nine races he competed in with Ducati at Phillip Island, Alvaro Bautista, starts ninth and is almost eight-tenths behind his teammate. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Team Motocorsa Racing) completes the top ten.

BACK: Rea starts 11th, van der Mark’s fall leaves him in sixth row

Outside the top ten, Superpole proved difficult for Rea, who was almost a second behind Bulega. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) could only manage 12th after a strong start on Friday, while Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) was 13th ahead of Honda. Garrett Gerloff will start 14th and Axel Bassani (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) will start 15th. Van der Mark’s fall cost him his 16th start, ahead of Brad Ray (Yamaha Motoxracing WorldSBK Team), Philipp Ettl (GMT94 Yamaha), Scott Redding (Bonovo Action BMW) and Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in 20th. Tarran McKenzie (PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda) and teammate Adam Norrodin complete the classification.

The top six finishers in the WorldSBK Tissot Superpole, complete results here:

1. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’27.916s
2. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +0.238 pp.
3. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.323 sec.
4. Dominik Egerter (Team GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) +0.487 s.
5. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.604 s.
6. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.624 s.

Enjoy WorldSBK Race 1 on Saturday from 16:00 local time (UTC+11) with WorldSBK VideoPass!