2026 Official Phillip Island WorldSBK Test: Day 1 - LIVE UPDATES

Sam Lowes, whose morning session was interrupted by a technical issue, posts his best lap of the day to climb to fifth in FP2.

Approaching the end of the opening half-hour of FP2, top ten: Bulega, Bassani, Alex Lowes, Bautista, Vierge, Petrucci, Montella, Sam Lowes, Dixon, Baldassarri.

Of those, Bassani, Alex Lowes, Bautista and Petrucci have already beaten their best FP1 times.

This is a fast pace from Bulega for lap after lap; he's now on his 9th lap of the session and still lapping in the 1m 29s.

No other rider has done even one lap under 1m 30s so far this afternoon...

Bulega backs off on his tenth lap and returns to the pits with 0.492s over his nearest rival Axel Bassani.

This time, Bulega gets quicker as the lap goes on and delivers a 1m 29.590s, that's 0.492s clear of Axel Bassani and close to this morning's 1m 29.4s.

Bulega loses a fraction in the final sector of his 6th lap, but is back in the red sectors for the start of lap 7...

While most riders have returned to the pits after their opening run, Bulega's late start means he has a clear track and trims his best to a 1m 29.869s. And he's still setting red sectors...

Nicolo Bulega is on track and sweeps to the top with a 1m 29s on his 4th lap of the session.

Axel Bassani sets his best lap of the day so far with a 1m 30.082s to lead the times from Bimota team-mate Alex Lowes.

As a reminder, Bulega's FP1 best was a 1m 29.415s, with Yari Montella the only other rider below 1m 30s.

Morning leader Nicolo Bulega is one of the few who doesn't head straight out on track, where the Lowes brothers are again the early session leaders.

A selection of pictures from the start of official WorldSBK testing at Phillip Island...

Miguel Oliveira, 2026 Phillip Island WorldSBK Test (Gold&Goose).

It's sunny so far but you never know at Phillip Island. New Aruba.it Ducati rider Iker Lecuona practices a flag-to-flag pit stop during FP1:

In terms of FP1 incidents, Honda rookie Jake Dixon ran through the gravel early at Turn 2, Stefan Manzi then crashed at Turn 6, where Ryan Vickers also took to the gravel just before the halfway stage.

There were brief red flags for birds on track and a technical issue for Sam Lowes, before a crash at Turn 10 for Tarran Mackenzie at the very end of the session.

We'll be back for Free Practice 2 from 15:40-17:40.

Lorenzo Baldassarri puts his Goeleven Ducati into 4th place in the closing minutes of FP1 - behind Bulega, Montella and Bassani - for an all-Italian top four.

Bulega is left a fraction short of his best time, but Montella is fastest in the first and third sectors on his way to a 1m 29.921s, that's only 0.265s from Bulega.

Sam Lowes all but equals his best lap time of the day so far, remaining in 8th on the Marc VDS Ducati.

Meanwhile, the top two of Bulega and Montella are setting hot sectors.

Into the final 10mins of FP1 and the likes of Lorenzo Baldassarri and Iker Lecuona are setting personal best sectors.

Jake Dixon is still the top rookie in 9th for Honda, with Miguel Oliveira 12th (BMW), Alberto Surra 13th (Ducati), Stefano Manzi (16th) and Mattia Rato (22nd).

While Bulega dominates, new team-mate Iker Lecuona is making steady progress; he's up to 11th place, +1.239s from the Italian.

Bulega responds to move P1 slightly further away with his best lap of the morning so far. 17mins to go.

Garrett Gerloff has been demoted to 4th after Axel Bassani and then Yari Montella took over second place. However, the duo are still in the 1m 30s and over 0.4s behind Nicolo Bulega.

The top ten now contains 5 Ducatis,  2 Bimotas, plus 1 Kawasaki, 1 Honda and 1 Yamaha. 

There's nothing wrong with the track conditions for Garrett Gerloff, who puts his Kawasaki into second, as Bulega's nearest rival.

30mins of Free Practice 1 to go.