Phillip Island WorldSBK Practice Results: Scott Redding powers to top

Scott Redding powered to the quickest time in Friday free practice as the opening round of the 2020 WorldSBK Championship officially kicked off at Phillip Island, Australia.

The Briton was quickest in a rain-affected first free practice session before proving just as formidable in the dry during a flurry of quick laps during the final minutes of FP2.

Setting a benchmark time of 1m 30.436secs, Redding was an impressive four tenths quicker than the opposition, with Pata Yamaha duo Toprak Razgatlioglu and Michael van der Mark unable to get close to him in second and third positions.

Leon Haslam had looked on course for the quickest time of the day aboard the new Honda CBR1000RR-R before being shuffled down to fourth position late on, the Briton nonetheless confirming the strong performance of the new Fireblade ahead of its race debut.

Loris Baz made it three Yamahas in the top five, ahead of defending champion Jonathan Rea, while BMW’s Tom Sykes ensured all five manufacturers featured in the upper portion of the leaderboard in seventh.

Alvaro Bautista enjoyed a step forward to get his Honda into eighth position, while Michael Ruben Rinaldi and Xavi Fores completed the top ten on their respective GoEleven Ducati and Puccetti Kawasaki machines.

2020 Australian WorldSBK, Phillip Island – Free Practice Results [Combined after FP2]