Phillip Island WSB: Hill suffers engine blow-up and fire

Tommy Hill survived a spectacular engine blow-up and fire during the opening free practice session at Phillip Island today.

Despite the set back, the Altea Honda rider still managed to secure the 15th fastest time with a best lap of 1m 33.845s.

• Get all the latest WSB news

Having experienced a similar engine failure in testing last week the team needs to ensure the problem does not happen again or they could face a parts shortage for this weekends race.

Speaking to MCN, Hill said: “I was flat out in fourth gear when it let go. It was a big one and there were flames coming up from the engine.

“I got it off the track and I could see that the marshal with the fire extinguisher was miles away so I started throwing gravel on it myself to put out the fire.

“The engine is wrecked and we certainly won’t be using it again this weekend. Other than that the session went pretty well.  I just hope we don’t have anymore problems this weekend.”