The Ashes are over, but one Briton is trying to regain some of the lost ground in the Australia-England sporting rivalry during the opening round of the World Superbike championship, being held at Phillip Island.

Australia’s representatives at Phillip Island are thin on the ground, leaving Briton Alex Lowes to swoop in and set the fastest time in practice on Friday, ahead of the main race on Sunday.

Lowes put his Suzuki at the top of the timesheets in Friday’s second 45-minute practice session and then stayed at the sharp end despite the usual flurry of fast laps at the end of proceedings.

“It was great to kick off my world superbike career in such a satisfying way, but it’s only Friday and I’m not getting too ahead of myself,” the rookie Lowes said.

“I am still under no illusions that I am going to have to ride the best I ever have to get over these guys on Sunday.”

Lowes’ best lap was 1min31.100sec, only a fraction in front of Aprilia’s Marco Melandri (1:31.137), and then followed by Ducati’s Davide Guigliano (1:31.205) and Kawasaki’s world champion Tom Sykes (1:31.395) – four manufacturers sharing the spoils.

Australian pair Glenn Allerton (BMW, 1:33.118) and Matt Walters (Kawasaki, 1:35.810) – both 11th-hour replacements for injured internationals – were 15th and 22nd respectively on their EVO-spec machines.

The top 20 riders classified after the opening three practice sessions – the third will be held at 9:45am (AEDT) on Saturday – will take part in Superpole at 3:00pm, which will determine final grid positions for Sunday’s two 22-lap races.