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The dust has already been blown off, flight cases have been transported and now, teams and riders have touched down in a land Down Under. It’s the final third of February, it can only mean one thing; for the first time since 2020, Phillip Island and Australia welcomes the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship for the first round of another season of racing. As is tradition ahead of the first weekend of the year, the Official Test will take place across two days with a full entry list. You can get the schedule for Monday and Tuesday’s track action here, but the key stories are below.

KAWASAKI’S NEW ENGINE SPEC: could they light up the speed charts?

Coming into 2023, Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and teammate Alex Lowes will have an upgraded engine spec at their disposal. Team boss Guim Roda claimed that it wasn’t going to be a “revolution”, but that it is aimed at reducing their deficit to reigning World Champions Ducati and the lightweight Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on the straights. Whether it will be game changing enough remains to be seen, and whether or not Phillip Island is the absolute best circuit to measure the improvement at is also a question; perhaps circuits like Barcelona, Portimao and San Juan will tell us more. Regardless of that, Kawasaki’s top speed record at Phillip Island belongs to Alex Lowes from 2020 at 329.3 km/h, 1km/h slower than the outright top speed at the circuit, but 2km/h faster than the best top speed of 2022. Will Kawasaki join the 330km/h club?

DUCATI’S NEW PANIGALE V4 R: Bautista leads the way; can Rinaldi continue pre-season form?

With a new model in 2023, reigning World Champion Alvaro Bautista hopes that he can work for his race weekend straight away and get down to business from the off, to pick up from where he left off last year and add to his impressive five WorldSBK race wins at Phillip Island. Whilst Bautista is set to be in the mix, a more pressing question in red will be whether or not teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi’s scintillating pre-season form will continue at Phillip Island’s Official Test. The Italian was third and under the lap record at Portimao’s test and impressive at Jerez too; has he combined his 2021 outright pace and his 2022 consistency to be a threat? The test will give us an idea of the steps made. After getting some “tips” from one good-friend and soon-to-be MotoGP™ Legend Andrea Dovizioso, Rinaldi also shares the same trainer as ‘Dovi’ and teammate Bautista. Are Ducati stronger than ever going into 2023? There’s pressure from Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) coming from behind, but like Petrucci, he’ll need to adapt to the 2023 bike, as will Philipp Oettl (Team GoEleven).

ROOKIES PREPARE FOR THEIR DEBUT: Gardner at home, Petrucci back at Phillip Island

In what is one of the strongest rookie line-ups in many years, 2023’s Official Test will see hard work done for the round ahead, with Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) eager to shine from the off at home. Whether there will be any extra pressure to deliver in front of what is set to be a packed Australian crowd remains to be seen, but to make your debut at home is something to behold. Elsewhere, Danilo Petrucci returns to Phillip Island for the first time since his MotoGP™ days, this time on a Superbike, and he’ll be keen to use his past knowledge to get to grips with the 2023 model of the Ducati Panigale V4 R, as he remains chasing a base setting after failing to find one at Portimao. Then, there’re three more rookies: Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) won at Phillip Island in WorldSSP and hopes the test can stand him in good stead to do it again, whilst Lorenzo Baldassarri (GMT94 Yamaha) will take to the Island circuit on the most powerful bike he’s ever ridden. Eric Granado (MIE Racing Honda Team) will also be in action. Whilst Phillip Island isn’t the most technical circuit, it’s a circuit where the rider can make the difference – a big ask for the rookies, but one that some may rise too. Experience is also key and whilst not a rookie, Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) officially returns to action at the test and the round.

BMW VS HONDA: both keen to refine and shine with their new material

BMW and Honda both bring an array of changes. Starting with BMW, they have a new aero package, front wheel covers, switch to Brembo brakes and plenty more internals, as well as a new livery. With the new homologation of the M1000RR model, BMW no longer qualify for super concessions, although the super concession they would’ve had has been incorporated into the new homologation, confirmed by BMW Motorrad Motorsport Director Marc Bongers. Riders Scott Redding and Michael van der Mark struggled at the Portimao test, with Phillip Island set to be the most important test yet; this is also the case for the Bonovo Action BMW team. At Honda, they’ve got updated engine specs, whilst their super concession is a new chassis weld point, giving them more geometry options with pivot and headstock. Team HRC boss Leon Camier recently declared that during the tests, rivals BMW “weren’t that strong” and that Honda “were ahead of them”, so all eyes will be on which one of them can close the gap to the front battle first. Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge aim to start 2023 like they started 2022?

CAN TOPRAK SHINE AGAIN ON ‘THE ISLAND’? The #54 is back…

Whilst plenty of hype was made about Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) picking up the mantle of the #1, outgoing World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK) returns to his beloved #54, perhaps slightly less weighty than the #1 of 2022. During testing, Razgatlioglu suffered a big crash at Jerez, whilst he was under the lap record at Portimao, he was only fourth on the timesheets and slightly detached of those ahead of him. However, it is only testing, and things can always change come race weekends; the test will see the 2021 Champion working on a solid race pace as he hopes to start his season in the same way as he started his time at Yamaha in 2020. With a new swingarm and plenty more, he and teammate Andrea Locatelli have their eyes set on a big prize Down Under.

TESTING, TESTING: why will Phillip Island’s test will be different to the other pre-season ones?

From down on the ground at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto and the Autodromo Internacional do Algarve, teams were trialling an array of hard items. However, even on the final day of action at Portimao, teams were already starting to focus on race pace and ‘working for Australia’, but what does that mean? Don’t be surprised if we see plenty of race simulations, similar to that of a normal Free Practice session during a round. Don’t forget, as this is an Official Test, there are timed sessions, unlike in private tests where a track generally remains open for a set period of time with no fixed breaks. We should see teams focus almost exclusively on the weekend ahead, so that when Friday starts, base set-ups and strategies are already in place, and it’s about improving to track conditions. WorldSBK’s entry list is here, whilst World Supersport also return to action – you can pick up their entry list here, with it being our first look at Triumph and MV Agusta ahead of 2023, having not been at the busy Jerez or Portimao tests.

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