WorldSBK Phillip Island: Mackenzie ‘limited’ as Honda granted lifeline

Petronas MIE MS Honda’s Tarran Mackenzie had a baptism of fire as his WorldSSP career began in Phillip Island on Friday.

A challenging pre-season test gave way to a similar opening day of competition as the former British Champion got to grips with his yet to be homologated CBR600RR at the 4.4km Australian layout.

Mackenzie secured a personal best of 1’36.873 during the morning’s first practice but with temperatures increasing across the afternoon and a turn ten crash three minutes into the day’s final 40, there was little time to improve in the second session, leaving him last in the combined standings with just 20 laps completed overall.

“FP1 went well as I was able to get some laps in after missing a good part of this week’s tests,” Mackenzie admitted from Phillip Island. “So it was nice to ride and improve my feeling with the bike.

“In the afternoon I unfortunately made a small mistake early on which meant that I missed most of the session after crashing.

“Not ideal of course, but I think we can improve and continue to work on increasing my feeling with the bike tomorrow. I’m looking forward to getting some more laps in because we’re still limited in terms of the track time we’ve had.”

There was further turbulent news for the 27-year-old after his bike of choice was listed as ‘pending’ on the list of homologated machinery for the 2023 season.

The FIM and WorldSBK organisers, Dorna, released a statement confirming a waiver had been granted to allow the Supersport team to compete in both the opening rounds, at Phillip Island and Mandalika.

“As a result of a logistical and customs problem, it was impossible for Honda to present the engine (and the other mandatory parts) in time to proceed with the FIM Phase 2