New WorldSBK Ducati faces reliability issue at Phillip Island test

Ducati’s new Panigale V4 R WorldSBK bike suffered a technical problem on the opening day of the final preseason test at Phillip Island.

The problem did not affect Nicolo Bulega or Iker Lecuona of the factory team, but Marc VDS rider Sam Lowes, who stopped during the morning session. After, in the afternoon, Lowes finished the day third-fastest, but also suffered a crash.

The issue was something that would need resolving overnight, while Lowes was not concerned by his crash.

“We had a problem with the bike, the bike stopped on-track, so we had to switch to the spare bike; the team will check and see what happened,” Sam Lowes said of the technical issue, speaking to WorldSBK.com.

“It’s a new bike, so these things can happen. The team will have to check tonight and see for tomorrow.”

Explaining the turn four crash, Lowes added: “A little bit deep, a little bit wide in the corner, really slow. 

“I was trying the harder front tyre – [the crash was] not for this reason, but just a little bit deep, brake released and crashed. 

“I picked it up and rode it back, I think the team let me off with only half a crash because there was no damage to the bike and no issues. 

“It can happen there; if you’re going to have one in Phillip Island it’s the best corner to do it on.”

Tyre complication: “The better tyre is not one we’ll have for the race”

In Europe, the World Superbike teams battled bad weather that limited their running. In Phillip Island the weather is better, but the tyre allocation is affected by shipping issues. Lowes said that the best tyre available at the test is not a compound that will be available during the race weekend.

“It’s a bit of a strange [tyre] allocation for this test because we have tyres that we don’t have on the weekend – the better tyre today, actually, is not one that we’ll have on the weekend, so this is something we have to try to manage well,” Lowes explained.

It was not a huge deal in Lowes’ opinion, though, the British rider having been largely dialling himself in after the limited track time in Europe.

“Honestly, today, myself, the team, the bike – we needed time to get up to speed,” Lowes said.

“It was only really the last two exits that my comments felt good, I understood what was going on, I could give the guys feedback. 

“The first 50 laps was just getting up to speed, feeling good on the bike. 2026 we’ve not done a lot, so it was not real productive in a development, settings way, but it was really good for me to get out and I feel like tomorrow we can hit the ground running and start the proper work.”

“I want to work on the front feeling”

Despite the major changes to the Ducati for this year, Lowes was able to begin using his base setup from 2025. He knows this can’t be the perfect way to set the bike up, though, and is chasing agility and turning on day two of the test.

“We basically just copy and pasted last year’s setting into the new bike and it’s working pretty good, but it’s impossible that that’s the 100 per cent best way considering this is quite a lot different,” Lowes explained.

“So, we need to adapt a bit. I really want to work on the front feeling, a bit of agility. 

“I feel the bike’s real stable but I’m missing some turning in some corners and this is affecting my exit. On a race weekend, to be able to get the bike turning and pick up to not wear the tyre will be important. 

“So, now is more about the setting of the bike, bike balance a little bit, and we can try some things to try and get a bit more grip and work in normal race settings.”