Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was Friday’s fastest participant at the season-opening Yamaha Finance Australian round, however it was reigning Motul Superbike World Champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) fastest in FP2.

The in-form Davies topped the combined FP1 and FP2 time-sheets courtesy of a 1m30.189s best time from the morning, while Rea wound up second overall.

Xavi Fores (BARNI Racing Team) put in a good performance to end the day third fastest, also courtesy of his best FP1 effort, putting him just ahead of Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team).

On his return to WorldSBK Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fifth quickest overall, thanks to his 1m30.627s lap registered in the afternoon outing.

Also going straight through to Tissot Superpole 2 on the opening weekend of the 2017 series are Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia), Nicky Hayden (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), Jordi Torres (Althea BMW Racing Team) and Markus Reiterberger (Althea BMW Racing Team).

The likes of Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team), meanwhile, will participate in Tissot Superpole 1 on Saturday having ended Friday 11th and 12th respectively.

Australian wildcard Josh Brookes (ER Motorsports Yamaha) lowered his lap-time to a 1m31.973s in the afternoon session, placing him 15th in FP2 – 18th overall – and 1.784s back of Davies.

American PJ Jacobsen has continued to be the pace-setter in the Supersport World Championship at Phillip Island today after dominating the start of official practice.

Jacobsen simply resumed where he left off in testing by roaring around the GP circuit in a sizzling 1m33.087s, nearly half a second ahead of Frenchman Jules Cluzel (Honda).

Five of the six manufacturers on the 2017 WorldSSP grid finished inside the top 10 today, with Italian Federico Caricasulo (Yamaha) in third from new teammate Lucas Mahias, Roberto Rolfo (MV Agusta), Hikari Okubo (Honda), Alex Baldolini (MV Agusta), Gino Rea (Kawasaki), Luke Stapleford (Triumph) and Kyle Smith (Honda).

Rising talent Aiden Wagner (Honda) was the leading Aussie in 14th, followed by Lachlan Epis (Kawasaki) in 22nd and Anthony West (Yamaha) in 24th.