Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea left it till the final five minutes of the opening Word Superbike practice outing to make an appearance out on a wet Phillip Island track. The Northern Irishman only needed three laps to set the quickest time of the morning, a 1’37.033.

But the Honda rider had to contend with a late challenge from Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli. The French rider also went around the circuit three times, and left it till the final minutes to make an impact. But the rider was still nearly a second slower than Rea.

Fourteen bikes in total made the decision to brave the wet. One of the first team’s out were the Ducati Racing duo of Davide Giugliano and Chaz Davies. But as soon as they went out, they soon came back in, and failed to clock a time.

Davies’ fellow Brit and Rea’s team-mate Leon Haslam came out of his garage with ten minutes of track time remaining. But like the Welshman he did not set a time. Voltcom Suzuki’s Irish rider, Eugene Laverty made his race weekend debut for his new team with four minutes to go, and was one of the few who clocked a qualifying time. He ended the damp morning sixth on the timesheets with a 1’42.118.

BMW Motorrad’s Glen Allerton was the leading EVO bike. The Australian finished third quickest, followed by BMW Team Toth’s, Imre Toth. The remaining Brit pack of Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes and World Superbike rookie, Alex Lowes stayed in the dry of their respective garages.

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