Source: Suzuki Racing.

Suzuki rookie Alex Lowes will head into this afternoon’s final battle for grid positions at the 2014 Phillip Island world superbike season opener full of confidence after turning the fastest lap across the three timed practice sessions.

A number of riders made a valiant attempt to knock him off the top perch, but the Briton wouldn’t have any of it as he completed the practice sessions with a best lap of 1m30.566 – but then did some of his good work undone with a crash at Turn 11.

Lowes nudged out Aprilia’s Eugene Laverty, Ducati pair Davide Guigliano and Chaz Davies, and Kawasaki’s world champion Tom Sykes.

Meanwhile, Australia’s Glenn Allerton was in top form with a 1m31.962, and finished practice as the second fastest EVO rider on the BMW he only rode for the first time yesterday.

Italian Niccolo Canepa (Ducati) set the EVO pace with a remarkable 1m31.061, and also left a number of the fully-fledged superbike riders red-faced after completing timed practice as sixth fastest overall, ahead of Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia), Jonathan Rea (Honda), Marco Melandri (Aprilia) and Loris Baz (Kawasaki).

Melandri also crashed at high-speed this morning, as did Erik Buell Racing’s Geoff May and Aussie Matt Walters (Kawasaki). Walters ended up 21st overall.

There will be a fourth ‘untimed’ practice session at 12:30pm, before Superpole qualifying begins at 3:0opm. In the revised Superpole structure, which mirrors the same system used in MotoGP, the top 20 times across the first three practice sessions will take part.

The top 10 fastest riders will be seeded directly into Superpole 2, while the riders classified from 11-20 will take part in Superpole 1. The fastest two riders in Superpole 1 will progress to Superpole 2, making a total of 12 riders competing for the first 12 grid positions.

Multiple world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) led the way in the third Supersport session from Michael van der Mark (Honda) and American rookie PJ Jacobsen (Kawasaki), while Aussies Billy McConnell (Triumph) and Bryan Staring (Honda) were 14th and 15th. Ryan Taylor (Yamaha) was 23rd.

2014 eni FIM Superbike World Championship
Round one – Phillip Island, VIC

Superbike FP3 results:
1. Alex Lowes 1m30.566
2. Eugene Laverty 1m30.801
3. Davide Giugliano 1m30.864
4. Chaz Davies 1m30.962
5. Tom Sykes 1m30.982
6. Niccolo Canepa 1m31.065 (EVO)
7. Sylvain Guintoli 1m31.087
8. Jonathan Rea 1m31.091
9. Loris Baz 1m31.211
10. Marco Melandri 1m31.329
13. Glenn Allerton (AUS) 1m31.962 (EVO)
21. Matt Walters (AUS) 1m34.453 (EVO)

Supersport FP3 results:
1. Kenan Sofuoglu 1m33.145
2. Michael van der Mark 1m33.156
3. PJ Jacobsen 1m33.476
4. Kev Coghlan 1m33.590
5. Ratthapark Wilairot 1m33.744
6. Jules Cluzel 1m33.921
7. Vladimir Leonov 1m33.954
9. Raffaele de Rosa 1m34.156
9. Roberto Tamburini 1m34.291
10. Riccardo Russo 1m34.319
14. Billy McConnell (AUS) 1m34.556
15. Bryan Staring (AUS) 1m34.586
23. Ryan Taylor (AUS) 1m36.783

Click here for detailed results