Eager to build on Saturday’s results, which saw Tarran Mackenzie cross the line sixteenth, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team returned to the Australian track of Phillip Island on Sunday to compete in the Superpole Race and second Superbike race. Having not quite managed to set a valid qualification time on Saturday, championship rookie Zaqhwan Zaidi was unfortunately not permitted to compete in this weekend’s races but was allowed to take to the track for morning warm-up. With just ten minutes of track time to exploit, the Malaysian rookie continued to build knowledge of his CBR1000RR-R. In turn, Mackenzie and his technicians used the brief phase to make final preparation for the ten-lap Superpole race. 

The short sprint ran in warm, humid conditions in the early afternoon. From row seven, Tarran immediately moved up to sixteenth after several riders crashed out on lap one. Working hard to stick with the riders immediately ahead, the British rider unfortunately lost ground after being forced off track to avoid colliding with Bautista, who had crashed and was still in the middle of the track. Eighteenth at the mid-race point, the gap that had opened up in front of Tarran prevented him from making up any positions, considering the limited laps available. Mackenzie nevertheless managed the final stages and completed the race, eighteenth across the line.

The weekend’s second and final 20-lap Superbike race ran according to schedule at 4pm local time (CET+10) and, like Race 1, involved a mandatory tyre change mid-race. Twenty-first on the grid, Mackenzie was running twentieth through the early stages but a crash through turn 6 unfortunately put paid to his efforts on lap eight of the race. With the season-opener done and dusted, the PETRONAS MIE Racing Honda Team has just over a month in which to prepare for WorldSBK round 2, set to be staged at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve in Portugal over the weekend of 28-30 March. Before then, the team will try to arrange a test session to provide rookie Zaidi with the opportunity to learn and prepare ahead of the second round of the season.

Zaqhwan Zaidi - DNS

“This first weekend has helped us understand where we need to improve. We’ve had a meeting to discuss the various aspects with my crew chief and I think we will have a test before the next round, which would be very helpful. For sure we need to make progress, but to do that we need more track time. I also need to work on my physical preparation, so I will be doing that in the coming weeks and months. In terms of the bike, we need to try different setups and solutions that can help me to ride. We tried a few things in today’s warm-up that were positive but, like I say, we need time. The team has worked really hard here, and I thank everyone in the garage for their help. The plan now is to do all I can to prepare for the next championship rounds.”

Tarran Mackenzie – 18th / DNF

“I was happy with Race 2 today as I felt a bit better and understood more about where we need to work. Obviously not the race result we wanted – I just lost the front through Turn 6 but I’m OK. Overall, it's not been an easy weekend to be honest; I felt we were a little behind in testing and had a few problems that took us some time to properly understand. It wasn’t smooth sailing here in the end, but the good news is that we’ll have a test at Portimão, which will help us to reset and prepare for the next races in Europe.”