One of the two long-awaited days of Australia’s Official Test is in the books, and Independent riders have plenty to be proud of after Day 1 at the Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit. The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship’s Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team), Yari Montella (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Team GoEleven) were some of the day’s top performers, with Lowes confirming the pace he showed last season, Montella making his case to be in the title fight, and Baldassarri launching a shot across the bow of the other riders as he prepares for his second season in WorldSBK.

LEARNING THE NEW PANIGALE’S SECRETS: “It was only the last two exits where I felt like I understood the bike”

Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) stuck the landing for P3 on the combined timesheets after Day 1. He was one of just four riders to log a lap in the 1’29s range, hinting at growing confidence atop his new Ducati Panigale V4 R. His day started back in P9, where a 1’30.481s time sent him down the FP1 order; however, it was FP2 where the Englishman showed his true potential with the new bike. Despite a small crash on Turn 4, his 1’29.907s best time came on his 31st lap of the session, on the first lap of his final stint. Lowes has never taken a podium from Phillip Island; perhaps his new machine and ascendant form are set to change that.

On his Day 1 and what he wants from Day 2, Sam Lowes said: “It was a good day, it was nice to finally get some laps in the really really lovely conditions here, very warm and not too much wind. It was a positive day; it took some time to feel good, but we’re really happy overall. We had a problem with one of our bikes on track. I don’t know exactly what the problem was, but we had to switch to the second bike after it had a problem. It’s a new bike so these things can happen, the main thing for today was getting comfortable with the bike, then from there was to work on the race tyre. We need the time to get up to speed with the bike, I feel like it was only the last two exits where I felt like I understood the bike. We basically just cut and pasted last year's settings to this year’s bike, so we want to work on the front feeling with the bike and agility because I feel like I’m missing a bit of turning, and it’s affecting my exits.”

FINDING A DIRECTION: “Tomorrow we will try to improve because we were faster today in the morning than we were in the afternoon”

Yari Montella's offseason up until now was largely overshadowed by the silly season bombshell that dropped into his box in the form of Alvaro Bautista, who put pen to paper to join the Ducati Independent squad and race alongside the young Italian. He showed plenty of potential throughout 2025, however frequent crashes cast questions on how he would perform in 2026. So far in the preseason, he has landed P2 at a rainy Day 1 in Jerez, and now, P4 on a sunny Day 1 in Australia thanks to his 1’29.921s time, just 0.014s behind Lowes in P3.

On his first day of the Australia Test, Montella said: “It was a good day, I enjoyed it a lot. I like riding here at this circuit. It was a good first day after the winter tests, when we finally got a full dry day. Today we worked a lot, trying different tyres and doing a long run to prepare for the race, and we have a lot of data to go over. Tomorrow we will try to improve, since we were faster in the morning than in the afternoon. We tried something, and I didn’t like it very much. For Day 2, we will do something similar to today, trying to find a better setup so that I can fight for the top five positions this season.”

STEADY PROGRESS: “Practice after practice, I want to fight to be as fast as possible”

Lorenzo Baldassarri dons the yellow GoEleven leathers this season for what will be his first season back in the Championship. Much has been said about his talent on the MotoE bike, but prior to Day 1, projections of his 2026 WorldSBK season were nebulous. He opened the day from P4 in FP1, his 1’30.239s pace landing him just 0.036s shy of Axel Bassani (bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) in P3. The afternoon brought with it faster times for most of the grid, and while ‘Balda’ didn’t shave time off of his FP1 benchmark, his similar 1.30.280s time illustrated that the #34’s fight-at-the-front pace shown in FP1 was no fluke.

On his opening day of testing at Phillip Island, Baldassarri said: “It was a very good start for us, I feel very good on the bike after this winter break without testing on dry conditions on the new Ducati. I think it’s a very, very good bike. Finding a good feeling is very important to us; we worked on it today, and it turned out better than expected. After these wet tests, arriving here on dry, I wanted not to push too much. I wanted to work on the bike step by step. Tomorrow, I want to try to continue this approach to have fun and work with this great bike. Practice after practice, I want to fight to be as fast as possible. I was P4 in FP1 and P7 in FP2. I want to continue like this and work to improve. As a team, we are working well.”

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