World Superbike championship leader Jonathan Rea ends the first day of action from the Chang International Circuit in Thailand fastest of all, edging Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes to top spot in FP2.
The Northern Irishman focused his time in this afternoon’s hour-long session on long runs, putting in a consistent and fast 19-lap run.
With the clock counting down the final few minutes, the timing screen began to light up with red sectors. Sykes came close to deposing Rea from first place, but his 1m33.783s was a few hundredths shy.
Rea proceeded to twist the screw, popping in a 1m33.573s right at the death to get to within two tenths of the outright lap record. Ducati’s Marco Melandri was unable to improve on his FP1 best, but still ends Friday third overall ahead of team-mate Chaz Davies.
Yamaha’s Alex Lowes capped off a solid first day in Thailand for Yamaha fifth on the time sheets, with Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores sixth on his Panigale R. Jordi Torres was top BMW in seventh.
Lowes’ team-mate Michael van der Mark is showing clear signs of improvement on the YZF-R1, the Dutch rider going eighth quickest in FP2 and just seven tenths away from top spot.
Markus Reiterberger, on the sister Althea BMW, caused an upset right at the chequered flag for the Milwaukee Aprilia team, as the German pushed Lorenzo Savdaori out of the top 10 with a 1m34.410s.
Shaun Muir’s team still have cause for celebration, however, as Eugene Laverty managed to gain direct passage into the second part of Superpole in 10th.
The Honda duo of Stefan Bradl and Nicky Hayden slotted in behind 11th-placed Savadori, whilst Leon Camier put in a solid effort to go 14th having missed all of this morning’s session.
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