Eugene Laverty has proved his turn of speed at the Portimao test was no anomaly by parking the much-improved Voltcom Suzuki at the top of timesheets on day one of World Superbike testing at Phillip Island.
The Irishman’s first-session time of 1’30.513 - which is only three-tenths off Carlos Checa’s outright lap record - was enough to keep him at the top of the pile all day and ahead of the charging Davide Guigliano, making his debut on the factory Ducati.
“We surprised ourselves with the lap time today. We were a lot faster than where I’d set my goal and the fact that the bike works so well around here is nice too! Today is probably the best conditions I’ve ever had at Phillip Island, usually you have a strong head wind, strong tail wind, or it’s too hot and slippery. Today was optimum temperature with very little wind so that’s why the lap times were so quick," said Laverty.
"In terms of feedback the Voltcom Crescent Suzuki GSX-R is better than any Superbike I’ve ridden here, I can really attack the course more than I ever have done, and that gives me a lot of confidence. The rear tyres are working well too, even after 24 laps we are still under my lap record so that’s definitely positive.”
But it was Laverty’s team-mate Alex Lowes who caused the biggest stir. The reigning British Superbike Champion opened his WSBK account with a 1’34.932 on his firts flying lap and went on to set the fifth quickest time overall - a 1’31.000 - despite a crash in session one as he exited MG Corner on his 23rd lap.
The youngster raised his game in session two and got to within half a second of Laverty. He has old heads on fast bikes in the shape of Aprilia’s Marco Melandri and Sylvain Guintoli behind him while fellow youngster, and crasher, Loris Baz is one place ahead.
Baz slipped off at the Southern Loop right at the end of session one but a 1’30.767 lap was enough to secure fourth spot behind team-mate and reigning world champion Tom Sykes, who put in a 1’30.737 to be just two-tenths off the pace on day one.
Melandri was the quicker of the two Aprilia veterans in sixth place on a 1’31.146 set in session two - which had a higher track and ambient temperature. He was one place ahead of Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam, who is a little under seven-tenths off the pace with Guintoli in eighth.
With the new engine restrictions in place, the revs and top speed of the Aprilias have been curtailed. Both works RSV4 riders could only muster 196.7mph compared to last year’s best of 200.8mph. Sykes’ Kawasaki was good for 196.9mph in 2013 but only 192.8mph this year. Laverty’s best was 195mph so the the playing field seems to have been levelled for the moment at least.
Jonathan Rea and Chaz Davies rounded out the top ten but both are within a second of Laverty’s time. Nico Canepa was the fastest of the Evo men in 11th place and only half a second slower than Davies with a five mph top speed difference. David Salom and Sylvain Barrier, who had an off at the end of session two completed the Evo top three.
