The highly anticipated 2020 WorldSBK season finally approached us at Phillip Island (Australia) however with wet conditions for the opening Free Practice. Eugene Laverty new to the team for 2020 managed to complete 10 laps in the session despite the damp and slippy surface. Eugene finished his FP1 in P12 with a lap time of (1’45.169).
The afternoon FP2 soon approached and with the sun breaking through the clouds, dried the track ahead of the 50-minute session. Both BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team riders got to work on their race pace throughout the session with Eugene’s teammate Tom Sykes lapping solid mid (1’31.000) laps, Eugene a few tenths slower also in the high 1’31’s.
Towards the closing stages of session other riders opted to go for fresh tyres to find their 1 lap pace, both Eugene and Tom decided to concentrate on gathering information on the used tyre ahead of the opening race tomorrow. Final position at the end of day 1; P14.
Eugene Laverty
“We are little down the order at the moment which we need to improve for tomorrow. I have struggled in the flowing sections of the track on acceleration especially in sector 3 which is unusual as I have been normally strong there in the past, so this is something we need to have a look at. Tomorrow is looking dry so this will give us a chance to have a look at the data and try get ourselves up to where we want to be.”