Jonathan Rea held onto top spot in Qatar as Thursday practice for World Superbikes concluded, though the Northern Irishman did not improve on his first practice time in a red–flagged second session.
Rea dominated proceedings in the first session earlier this evening, the Kawasaki rider almost seven tenths quicker than the rest as he seeks to secure his first wins in Qatar and surpass double champion Colin Edwards’ record points tally of 552.
A number of riders improved on their first practice times straight away, including Tom Sykes, who shot to the top of the second practice standings and second on combined times with a 1m57.985s.
Disaster struck the Yorkshireman soon after, however. Sykes’ ZX–10RR just 10 minutes in and forced the session to be halted while the track was cleaned.
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He was unable to return to the circuit to do any more laps, but his early effort of 1m57.985s stood for some time, with only Yamaha’s Alex Lowes – who crashed in the first session – getting close with a 1m58.393s.
Team–mate Rea eventually took over at the top with a 1m57.843s, but was unable to get near his 1m57.666s from earlier this evening.
Lowes ended the day second with a 1m57.925s, while Sykes held onto third despite his earlier mechanical woes. Chaz Davies headed the second Yamaha of Michael van der Mark to complete the top five.
Barni Racing’s Xavi Fores – whose future in WorldSBK is still unclear as the season nears its end – leaped up to sixth ahead of the Aruba.it Panigale of Marco Melandri. Jordi Torres is the only BMW rider contesting the second Superpole session at this stage with team–mate Raffaele De Rosa down in 13th.
Eugene Laverty and Lorenzo Savadori completed the top 10 on their Milwaukee Aprilia’s, though the latter’s evening was hampered by two crashes.
The Italian came off at the final corner with 14 minutes to go, and fell again at Turn 14 while in the closing moments while on a lap that was set to elevate him to third.
Sylvain Guintoli failed to capitalise on Savadori‘s misfortunes, and was just a few hundredths shy of the Italian’s first practice time with a 1m59.053s. MV Agusta’s Leon Camier will join him in SP2.
Pedercini’s Jeremy Guarnoni was able to turn some laps on his Kawasaki tonight after missing the entirety of his first session back in WorldSBK in the pits due to a technical issue.
The French rider was 18th fastest at the chequered flag, three seconds off the pace, and was comfortably faster than the Grillini Kawasaki duo of Ondrej Jezek and fellow returnee Roberto Rolfo.
