2026 Australian WorldSBK LIVE: Race 1 Reaction from Phillip Island

Correction, turn 11 for Bautista, the same place Dixon crashed on Tuesday. Fortunately for Bautista it was a low-side for him and he seems okay.

Alvaro Bautista has crashed at turn 10, he seems okay but his race is done.

Not a great start for Petrucci, back to 10th on lap two.

Bulega leads the opening lap of the season, Montella half-a-second back already and with Lowes all over his rear tyre.

Baldassarri gets up to fifth by Bassani at turn one, strong start from the Go Eleven rider.

Riders are off on their warm-up lap ahead of Race 1 at Phillip Island.

For the first time since 2023, WorldSBK will run full-distance races without pit stops this weekend.

It means a completely different challenge to the past two years here when there was a pit stop around half-distance. 

Tyre management is likely to be much more important this year, something which proved a strong point of Bulega and Ducati last year but what about with the new bike? We're only a few minutes away from finding out.

Conditions remain similar for Race 1 as in Superpole: clear skies, 21C air temperature, 44C track temperature.

If Bautista and Lecuona were underwhelming in Superpole, Miguel Oliveira was a bit worse than that.

The Portuguese rider spoke on Saturday of the importance of not crashing in the 15-minute qualifying session with only one bike available compared to the two he's used to in MotoGP. Yet, in Superpole, he crashed at the second turn of his first lap. 

Oliveira got the bike back to the pits, but never got back out to complete a lap time and so will start last. 

It will be a tough race for Oliveira from there, of course, but with the Superpole Race coming up tomorrow it could get even worse if he is unable to get into the top-nine in the 10-lapper.

If that is the main question to be asked today, the answer is likely to be no.

Bulega had at least 0.4 seconds in hand over the rest of the field on pace during FP2 yesterday, and the Italian has topped every session so far, confirming his comfort and confidence at Phillip Island.

But what about the podium battle?

Several riders are in the mix there, including Sam Lowes who starts third and the two Bimota riders who go from row two.

Yari Montella could get himself in the rostrum fight from second on the grid, of course, but the stronger  pace is perhaps from Alvaro Bautista and Iker Lecuona, but they will have to come from 12th and 13th, respectively, after underwhelming Superpole performances from the two Ducati riders.

Pit lane is open at Phillip Island and the riders are off on their sighting lap ahead of Race 1. 

Oliveira the first one out of the pits.

20 minutes to go until lights out. 

Nicolo Bulega said he "enjoys every lap" of Phillip Island, speaking after taking his third straight pole at the circuit.

The Italian lines up alongside Yari Montella and Sam Lowes on the grid for Race 1 this afternoon.

Full story here.

Montella improves on his final lap but only by 0.001s. 0.419s off Bulega for the Barni Ducati rider, but second on the grid ahead of Lowes.

BMW tried to get Oliveira back out but weren't able to get his bike started; the Portuguese will end the session without a lap time.

Sam Lowes briefly up to second with his latest lap, 1m28.729 puts him 0.485s behind Bulega but Montella soon improves as well, 0.420s off the top time for the Italian. Still those three on the front row.

Row two now has Alex Lowes, Bassani, and Danilo Petrucci.

Bulega improves again and now it is the fastest lap of the weekend: 1m28.244s for the Italian and he's now 0.6s clear of the field with three minutes to go.

Bulega and Baldassarri back out for their second runs, Manzi as well, after they all did one lap on the first run.

Bulega has Baldassarri right in his tow, the the Go Eleven rider just got a look at a pole position lap: 1m28.392s from Bulega, not the fastest of the weekend but temperatures are much warmer than this morning.

Bulega now 0.484s up on Montella in second, Baldassarri gets up to fourth.

Oliveira is back in the pits now as Sam Lowes moves up to third. With Bulega leading and Yari Montella second, it's a Ducati 1-2-3 at the moment.

Bulega kicks things off with a 1m28.610s as Oliveira crashes at turn two on his first flying lap.

The Portuguese said yesterday it would be important not to crash because he only has one bike compared to the two in MotoGP, but he's gone down in the opening five minutes. He's back up and riding back to the pits.

Dry conditions for Superpole and reasonable temperatures, as well: 21C air temperature and 41C track temperature. 

Just for your reference ahead of Superpole, the pole position record is currently held by Bulega at a 1m27.916s set in 2024. 

The Italian also has the fastest time this weekend at a 1m28.273s.