Scott Redding goes quickest in Friday’s first free practice sessions at the Phillip Island Circuit. Chaz Davies ends the day in thirteen.

Scott Redding starts in the best possible way his first season in WorldSBK with Aruba.it Racing – Ducati finishing the #AusWorldSBK free practice in first place. Chaz Davies makes significant progress in terms of race pace.
The first day of activity of the 2020 WorldSBK began with heavy rain that forced the riders to stay in the pits for a long time. Scott Redding entered the track mid-session in wet conditions managing to set the quickest lap time in the last run.
The sun was back to shine before the FP2 and the British rider completed a long run before returning to the track for an extremely incisive time attack, which allowed him to finish in first place with more than four-tenths advantage over Razgatlioglu (Yamaha).
After deciding not to take any risks in FP1, Chaz Davies completed 24 laps in the afternoon with an interesting race pace especially in the middle part of the session. The Welshman then preferred to postpone the appointment with the time attack until tomorrow.

  • FP1+FP2 – Scott, Chaz & Top 6 after #AusWorldSBK Free Practice

P1 – S. Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45) 1’30.436
P2 – T. Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) 1’30.854, +0.418
P3 – M. Van Der Mark (Yamaha) 1’30.905, +0.460
P4 – L. Haslam (Honda) 1’30.936, +0.500
P5 – L. Baz (Yamaha) 1’30.973, +0.537
P6 – J. Rea (Kawasaki) 1’30.978, +0.542
P13 – Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7) 1’31.478, +1.042

Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #45)
“It was a very positive day even though we couldn’t complete many laps in the first session. We also did a great job because I lapped completely alone almost all the time without being able to exploit any slipstream. The race pace is good and that gives us a lot of confidence. Expectations? I understand that the Ducatisti expect a lot from me but, as I’ve already said, there are many things I still have to learn. I can’t hide the fact that getting on the podium tomorrow would be an extraordinary result”.

Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati #7)
“All in all I am satisfied because we have made progress compared to the tests a few days ago. It’s clear that I would have preferred to end the first day of the season with a better classification even though Friday’s is not important. The feeling is positive, especially on race pace and this gives me a lot of confidence for the race. We have to take another step tomorrow to get to Race 1 in the best possible conditions. We are not at the top yet but the trend is definitely positive”. 

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