Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) completed a brilliant first day at Losail International Circuit, taking first position in the combined Free Practice timesheets. The final round of the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship gets underway in Qatar with the Irish rider showing his full potential, having managed to beat both Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) in the final minutes of FP3.
Both KRT riders had finished outside the top two in the second session and returned to the track determined to recover their advantage under the Qatari floodlights. First it was Sykes who moved into the lead inside the opening ten minutes; Rea followed fifteen minutes later, inching ahead by just 30 thousandths of a second.
Sykes would tighten the gap further in the dying stages of FP3 to just eight thousandths of a second. But it was Laverty who managed to steal the top spot one minute before the chequered flag came down, setting a fastest lap of 1’57.323, nearly two tenths of a second faster than the two ZX-10RRs. After also topping FP1 and getting pipped to P1 by just 0.025 seconds in FP2, the Irishman seems set to leave his mark on the final round of 2018.
Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) completed the front quartet, although he was unable to improve upon his best FP2 time. Topping the second session earlier in the evening, the Englishman seems set to end his season on a high at Losail.
Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) was fifth fastest on Thursday, moving inside the top spots at the end of the third practice. He moves into tomorrow’s Superpole 2 ahead of Loris Baz (GULF Althea BMW Racing Team), sixth fastest in Qatar.
In the final round of the Panigale R before its four-cylinder brother arrives next season, Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was only able to finish seventh fastest, with teammate Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in ninth and Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) twelfth in the other red machine, with the independent riders champion forced to battle his way through Superpole 1 on Friday.
Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) seemed destined for that first qualifying shootout after crashing in FP1 and struggling through FP2 and most
of FP3; however the Dutchman found some late form in the closing session and recorded the eighth fastest time for the day.
Closing the top ten for Free Practice was Toprak Razgatlioglu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), the Turkish rider extending his good momentum into the Pirelli Qatar Round as the top independent rider on Thursday. Leandro Mercado (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) however fell just short of the Superpole 2 positions in eleventh, as did both Red Bull Honda World Superbike riders (Jake Gagne 13th, Leon Camier 14th).
That’s a wrap for today, but there’s plenty more coming tomorrow! Tune in for the final Superpole sessions of the year at 16:30 local time (13:30 GMT
WorldSSP: Mahias in command after Losail Free Practice
Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) continued to show phenomenal Free Practice form at the Losail International Circuit, recording the fastest time on Thursday at the Pirelli Qatar Round. FIM Supersport World Championship leader Sandro Cortese (Kallio Racing) followed close behind in second position, with both riders head and shoulders above the rest of the field in Free Practice.
The biggest news of the day arrived shortly after the green lights turned on for FP1, yet it happened off track: Mahias has been officially reinstated as the winner of the Nolan Portuguese Round following an appeal to the CAS. This decision comes with one huge knock-on effect: the gap between Jules Cluzel (NRT) and Cortese has been reduced to five points, turning Saturday’s race into a winner-takes-all affair.
But if Free Practice is anything to go by, these new developments have done nothing but embolden Cortese ahead of the final showdown. The German was the only rider capable of following the 2017 Champion’s pace through FP1, with Cluzel lagging nearly a full second behind in fifth position.
Even as the margins tightened throughout the second session Mahias and Cortese remained one step above the chasing pack for most of the second 50-minute practice. Only Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team) managed to briefly topple the pair with three minutes on the clock; however, his slipstream-aided lap was quickly countered by Thursday’s two frontrunners, with the Swiss rider having to settle for third.
Cluzel finished FP2 in fourth position, nearly half a second behind his championship rival. Corentin Perolari (GMT94 YAMAHA) moved up to fifth position in the closing stages of the session, followed by Raffaele De Rosa (MV Agusta Reparto Corse by Vamag) in sixth, in a return to form by the Italian.
Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) ended his day in seventh position, remaining ahead of Hector Barbera (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) in eighth. The British duo of Kyle Smith (CIA Landlord Insurance Honda) and Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing) close the top ten.
