The 2026 Australian WorldSBK kicks off the 2026 World Superbike Championship this weekend at Phillip Island.
Nicolo Bulega topped the standings after FP1 on the heavily revised 2026 Ducati Panigale V4 R, and continued this in FP2. Bulega didn't improve in the second session but did maintain his dominance by 0.253 seconds over the field.
Alex Lowes was second fastest in FP2 ahead of Axel Bassani, the British rider suffering a crash late on at turn four, which also claimed Bahattin Sofuoglu and Alberto Surra in FP2.
Sam Lowes had been second-fastest in FP1, but he crashed at turn one with around 15 minutes to go in FP2. He was able to walk away but finished the session in sixth.
Garrett Gerloff was in the top-10 in both sessions aboard the field's sole Kawasaki, as was Lorenzo Baldassarri on his return weekend to WorldSBK with Go Eleven Ducati.
The BMW riders traded places between sessions: Miguel Oliveira was the faster rider in FP1, while Danilo Petrucci took point in FP2, finishing 11th, just behind Xavi Vierge who was the fastest Yamaha rider.
Alvaro Bautista had a strong day, finishing fourth-fastest in FP2, compared to his replacement at the factory Ducati team for this year, Iker Lecuona, who was eighth.
The field is slightly diminished this weekend with the absence of Jake Dixon after his testing crash on Tuesday. He has now undergone surgery on his broken wrist but is unreplaced at HRC this weekend, unlike his full-time teammate Somkiat Chantra who is replaced by Tetsuta Nagashima.
Ryan Vickers is also present this weekend for HRC as a wildcard.
Tommy Bridewell was recently announced as a late addition to the 2026 World Superbike grid but he and the Superbike Advocates Ducati team won't arrive until the Portuguese Round at the end of March.
Yamaha boss Paul Denning says Andrea Locatelli's WorldSBK form at the moment is "a bit frustrating for everybody".
The Italian was 15th on the combined times today, four places behind his new teammate Xavi Vierge.
Full story here.
Chequered flag is out in FP2 and Bulega completes a sweep of today's sessions.
Bimota second and third with Lowes and Bassani.
Top-10 form fourth back:
Alex Lowes has crashed at turn four. He's back on the bike and riding back to the pits, and with only two minutes left in the session he doesn't miss out on too much track time.
Looks like he just lost the front as he picked up the throttle in the middle of the corner.
Improvement late on for Locatelli but highlighting the bleakness of the Italian's situation he's only up to 12th and 0.959s off the top time.
1m29.484 is an improvement for Baldassarri to go fourth-fastest. It's been an impressive week from Baldassarri already since the test and he's carrying that into the race weekend.
Vierge up into the top-10 in ninth, although he's quickly pushed to 10th as Bautista goes up to seventh.
Bulega riding with incredible consistency at the moment. We saw this morning he was able to set numerous laps faster than the best lap of second place, and he's doing something similar this afternoon, almost never leaving the low-1m29s.
Bulega improves by 0.030s, the Italian now 0.253s clear at the top of the times with nine minutes to go but still not faster than he managed this morning.
Lecuona improves up to sixth. Everyone on long runs at the minute and Lecuona the only one really setting personal bests lap after lap. P6 now for the Spaniard.
Sam Lowes has crashed at turn one. He's up and walking away. Had just set a personal best and is currently fourth-fastest in the session on a 1m29:571.
Footage here of the offending wildlife that caused the red flag.
FP2 is back underway in Phillip Island, 27:42 on the clock as we go green again.
A lot of riders already back in the pits, but the red flag is out with 27:42 on the clock. Seems to be for wildlife.
Top-10 as it stands:
Alberto Surra the latest victim of turn four. Lost it fairly late and somehow the bike dug into the asphalt and went for a tumble. Surra able to get back on the bike and get it back to the pits.
Sofuoglu, meanwhile, has got back to he pits but seems to be in some discomfort with his left wrist - doesn't seem too serious at the moment, though.
Bulega improves to a 1:29.131 to now be 0.223s clear of Lowes. Not yet as fast as he went this morning.
Bahattin Sofuoglu has gone down at turn four and scraped a front wing off his Yamaha. He's been able to remount and ride back to the garage.
Lowes brothers spending some time together on-track. The black helmets are due to KYT and Suomy not yet having passed the latest FIM homologation standards; for the same reason Bulega is in an all-black AGV and Miguel Oliveira is using an un-badged Shark.
1m29.216 for Nicolo Bulega puts him fastest for the first time this afternoon. Alex Lowes had briefly been top before that with a lap that already was faster by a couple of tenths than what he did this morning - he's now 0.138s behind Bulega.
Bassani with the early benchmark in FP2, straight into the 1:29s and 0.3s faster than Bulega who slots into second with his first lap. Montella currently completing the top-three.
FP1 is underway in Phillip Island. Warm afternoon, 46C of track temperature at the start of this second session of the day, so this will be a really good opportunity to understand the durability of the Pirelli tyres.
No pit stops in the races this weekend, remember, as there were in the past two years, so tyre conservation will be a key aspect to this weekend.
There were decent starts to the season and to the weekend for several returning and rookie riders, most notably Lorenzo Baldassarri and Miguel Oliveira.
Go Eleven's Baldassarri was sixth in the opening session, while Oliveira was ninth.
For riders at the beginning of their respective journeys with new teams, Alvaro Bautista was eighth this morning, while his replacement at the factory Ducati team, Iker Lecuona, was 10th. Meanwhile, Xavi Vierge was the top Yamaha rider in 11th and over half-a-second clear of his teammate ANdrea Locatelli.
Nicolo Bulega topped the FP1 session this morning by over half-a-second from Sam Lowes. Axel Bassani completed the top-three.
Welcome to live coverage of today's WorldSBK action from Phillip Island. FP2 at the Australian WorldSBK will be getting underway in just under 15 minutes at 16:00 local time.