Guintoli bang on target

Any reservations that Frenchman Sylvain Guintoli had about being competitive in the 2016 Motul Superbike World Championship on the Yamaha have been blown out of the water after he eclipsed the existing lap record in the second practice session at Phillip Island this afternoon.

Guintoli, the 2014 world champion and multiple Phillip Island winner, set a best lap of 1min30.865secs, below Chaz Davies' two-year-old circuit benchmark of 1:30.949.

Guintoli does hold the record for the best ever lap of Phillip Island though, a 1:30.038, set in his championship-winning year on an Aprilia.

Guintoli and British teammate Alex Lowes are spearheading Yamaha's re-entry into WorldSBK after a four-year absence for the Japanese manufacturer, riding the YZF-R1M which Aussie Josh Brookes dominated the 2015 British superbike title on.

"We're all a bit surprised by the pace of the Yamaha, as we are still at the start of the WorldSBK project," said the British-based Guintoli. "There's still so much to do but at the moment I have a good feeling with the bike and it will be interesting to see what times we can all get down to in Superpole tomorrow."

Honda's Michael van der Mark was second overall on day one, ahead of crack Kawasaki pair Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes, Leon Camier (MV Agusta), Nicky Hayden (Honda), Ducati duo Davide Giugliano and Davies, Aprilia's Lorenzo Savadori and German Markus Reiterberger (BMW Motorrad). Lowes was 11th, and the final rider within a second of Guintoli's benchmark.

Camier was the biggest revelation today, carving chunks off his best time from testing earlier this week on the MV Agusta, while Hayden cut his first official laps in WorldSBK after a big move across from MotoGP.

Savadori and Reiterberger also began their first WorldSBK campaigns impressively, keeping riders like Alex De Angelis (Aprilia) and fast Spanish pair Jordi Torres (BMW Motorrad) and Xavi Fores (Ducati) outside the top 10, although Fores' rhythm was upset after a crash at the high-speed turn 12.

Wildcard Mike Jones (Ducati) was the fastest Australian today in 15th position, three spots ahead of Brookes (BMW Motorrad) who continues to struggle with the electronic setup on his S 1000 RR.

Brookes only rode the BMW for the first time in Spain last month, while the Ducati is also a new frontier for Jones — who is also moonlighting this weekend in the opening round of the 2016 Australian Superbike Championship.

Taree's Josh Hook (Kawasaki) was to be the third local racing, but he has withdrawn from the event with an injured left shoulder and has been replaced by Turkish rider Toprak Razgatlioglu.

Today's two practice sessions were 'timed' for qualifying purposes, ahead of Superpole tomorrow to determine final grid positions for the two season-opening races at 3:00pm on Saturday and Sunday.

In Superpole 1, the riders who were 11th to 24th fastest today will go out first, and the fastest two from that session will progress to Superpole 2 against the 10 fastest riders today.

Both Superpole sessions are 15 minutes long, with the first starting at 12:30pm tomorrow.

Superpole is also being introduced into world supersport this year, and on today's form reigning world champion Kenan Sofuoglu (Kawasaki) is looking the goods to start from the front after he was fastest across today's two practice sessions — even after he was forced to sit out the second 60-minute outing with what appears to be an electrical problem.

Sofuoglu took top spot with 0.213secs to spare over Frenchman Jules Cluzel (MV Agusta, but the 2014 and 2015 winner at Phillip Island had his dramas after crashing at turn 12 this afternoon.

Moto2 convert Randy Krummenacher (Kawasaki) was third overall from Lorenzo Zanetti (MV Agusta), Kyle Ryde (Honda) and Patrick Jacobsen (Honda).

Queenslander Anthony West, who competed in the MotoGP race at Phillip Island in 2015, was 12th fastest on his Yamaha, with the next best Australian Glenn Scott (Honda) in 19th. Aiden Wagner (MV Agusta) followed in 21st, Mitch Levy (Yamaha in 23rd, Alex Phillis (Honda) in 24th, Kane Burns (Suzuki) in 25th and Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) in 27th.

Click here for all the day one results in the world championship classes, and here for the results in all the domestic classes.