Rea starts fastest from Bautista

FP1 results from the Australian World Superbike round

Jonathan Rea has topped the opening practice session of the 2019 World Superbike championship to beat rookie Alvaro Bautista who dominated the pre-season test at Phillip Island this week.

The reigning World Superbike champion returned to his familiar position on the times after seeing off factory Ducati’s Bautista, who took a clean sweep in the test results earlier this week. Rea produced a 1m 30.341s to edge out the Spaniard by 0.021s at the end of FP1.

Rea’s new team-mate Leon Haslam, returning to World Superbikes as British Superbike champion, claimed third place on the times with former Kawasaki rider Tom Sykes in fourth on the new factory BMW.

Another WorldSBK rookie caught the eye on the opening session as Sandro Cortese secured top Yamaha status in fifth place on the GRT Yamaha to split the BMW riders with Markus Reiterberger in sixth.

Moriwaki Althea Honda’s Leon Camier surged up the times after a low-key pre-season test at the Australian track with the British rider ending FP1 in seventh place ahead of Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark and Pedercini Kawasaki’s Jordi Torres.

Alex Lowes, who continually challenged at the sharp end during pre-season testing, could only manage 10th place for Pata Yamaha finishing the session almost a full second off pace-setter Rea.

2018 runner-up Chaz Davies was 11th for the Aruba.it Racing Ducati squad but ahead of former team-mate Marco Melandri on the GRT Yamaha.