Toprak Razgatlioglu stole the thunder from impressive rookie Nicolo Bulega by snatching the top spot during official pre-season testing for the 2024 WorldSBK Championship in the final moment at Phillip Island.

Spurred on by the fresh asphalt that has been laid around the high-speed Melbourne venue over the winter, Razgatlioglu turned up the heat with his final run of the day to leap to the top of the timesheets with a 1m 28.511secs.

That placed him a snip ahead of Bulega, who looked on course to end the day in the same position as the morning session after a searingly quick lap of 1m 28.585 in the closing stages. They were both well below the erstwhile lap record held by Tom Sykes from his 2020 pole-winning lap of 1m 29.230s

Headlines at a glance...

• 🚀 Toprak Razgatlioglu snatches the initiative from Nicolo Bulega in the final moments of the day with a huge new lap record of Phillip Island
• 🌟 Four years out of action but Andrea Iannone is just 0.001s shy of joining top trio in the 1m 28s bracket
• 🔴 Six red flags over the course of the session, including one for a crash involving Jonathan Rea
• 💥 Crashes for: Iker Lecuona, Jonathan Rea, Alvaro Bautista, Andrea Iannone, Michael van der Mark, Andrea Locatelli and Tito Rabat
• 🤕 Iker Lecuona out for the remainder of the test after picking up a shoulder injury in his fall

Bulega had become the first rider on a Superbike to dip below 1m 29secs when he stormed to the fastest time during the morning session, with no other rider able to get close. However, the afternoon session would see the pace ramp up towards the end of the day with Andrea Locatelli setting a new marker of 1m 28.835s, prompting Bulega and ultimately Razgatlioglu to respond.

Razgatlioglu's turn of pace will come as some relief to BMW and be regarded as a warning to his rivals. Indeed, the Turkish rider worked on race sim runs in the afternoon, leaving it until the very final moment to go for a quick lap that would out-pace Bulega, a strategy that will give him and the Shaun Muir Racing-run squad confidence for Superpole when racing action kicks off in Australia this weekend.

Locatelli's run to third place raised smiles for Yamaha on an otherwise tough day for the Iwata marque. The Italian's high-profile new team-mate Jonathan Rea caused a red flag earlier in the day when he crashed at Turn 11, the Ulsterman struggling to keep pace throughout en route to 15th fastest on the timesheets.

Though he couldn't get close to his best time from the morning, Andrea Iannone still ended the day a fine fourth fastest, the ex-MotoGP rider proving he won't be rusty when the season starts on the Team Go Eleven Ducati.

He was among six riders to get beneath Sykes' lap record from four years ago with, Alex Lowes made strides on the best of the factory Kawasaki ZX-10RRs to take fifth, albeit a long way adrift of Razgatlioglu's immense pace. Similarly, Motocorsa Ducati's Michael Ruben Rinaldi made big gains over the day to collect sixth.

While the pace was quick, it was also somewhat fragile with as many as seven riders hitting the deck over the course of the day.

Among them were frontrunners Locatelli and Iannone, but also defending champion Alvaro Bautista, who tipped off at Turn 7 just before the end of the morning session. The dominant title-winner of 2022 and 2023 has endured a troubled build-up to the opener as he struggles with a lingering neck injury and the impact of carrying ballast introduced by the governing body in an attempt to create a more even base weight for all riders.

Despite the fall, Bautista looked solid at Phillip Island in seventh, albeit a full 0.7s off not only Razgatlioglu's best lap but that of his rookie Aruba.it Racing Ducati team-mate.

Scott Redding appeared to confirm the steps forward made by BMW over the winter under Razgatlioglu's steer as he stayed among the top ten throughout the day, eventually ending it in eighth. Gains over the day would see Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha) and new Kawasaki signing Axel Bassani complete the top ten.

A minor improvement from Sam Lowes would prevent him from slipping from the top six come the end of the day aboard his Marc VDS Racing Ducati, the WorldSBK rookie winding up 11th.

Six red flags would permeate the day, one for Rea, two for technical issues affecting Garrett Gerloff and Philipp Oettl, and another for Iker Lecuona, who crashed during the morning session. The Spaniard picked up a shoulder injury sufficient to keep him out of action for the remainder of the day and now is a doubt for the opener this weekend.

Of the remaining Brits, Brad Ray - making his Phillip Island Circuit debut today - turned in the 20th fastest lap of the day, while Tarran Mackenzie, who debuts with Petronas MIE Racing Honda this weekend, was 22nd of the 23 riders.

2024 WorldSBK Pre-Season Testing | Official Testing Results, Phillip Island [FINAL]

Tuesday Combined | Conditions - Dry, Sunny

Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit | Lap Records - WorldSBK

2024 WorldSBK Pre-Season Testing Schedule & Programme