Image: Russell Colvin.

Kawasaki Racing Team’s Jonathan Rea opened the 12th and final round of the 2022 Superbike World Championship (WorldSBK) as the fastest rider in Friday’s practice at Phillip Island, as Nicolo Bulega led the way in World Supersport and Australia’s Oli Bayliss was P4 in FP1.

Rea topped both sessions today, his best time of a 1m31.127s coming in the second session which saw him just 0.105s clear of recently crowned WorldSBK champion Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).

A previous WorldSBK winner at the circuit, Kawasaki Racing Team’s Alex Lowes ended Friday third quickest, ahead of Pata Yamaha with Brixx pair Toprak Razgatlioglu and Andrea Locatelli.

Team HRC fill-in Tetsuta Nagashima impressed in P6, as Phillip Oettl (Team Goeleven), BMW-bound Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha), Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Michael Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) completed the top 10.

Image: Russell Colvin.

In WorldSSP, a 1m34.027s was enough to see Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP) top the charts, just 0.040s ahead of countryman Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing).

Back-to-back Supersport world champion Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Yamaha) concluded the day in P3, edging Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph).

Australia’s Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team) was fourth quickest in FP1 and ended Friday 10th overall with a 1m34.823s lap, less than fourth-tenths from Aegerter in third.

Detailed results