Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes split the Kawasakis of Jonathan Rea and Tom Sykes on the combined WorldSBK timesheets at the end of day at Qatar, with a last lap that saw him a little more than a quarter of a second slower than the three-time world champion.
Lowes came out of pitlane very late for his final run but immediately set 1’58.196 before going under the 1’58s barrier with a 1’57.925 to push Sykes down to third place. The lap was also enough to see off a challenge from Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies who, seconds before, had hopped into third with a 1’58.136.
Sykes’ engine went pop at the beginning of the second session necessitating a red flag and he spent the rest of the session in the garage after setting a 1’57.965 on his first flying lap, so what pace the Huddersfield man is anyone’s guess.
No-one could match the pace of Rea who set his fastest time of the day in the opening session, putting in a 1’57.666 on his last run. His best time in the second session, a 1’57.843, was also quicker than Lowes’ time, set after his customary race simulation - a ten-lap run in the 1’58s.
Lowes’ team-mate Michael van der Mark - fresh from his MotoGP debut at Sepang - clocked the fifth fastest time to stay ahead of a late charge from Barni Ducati’s Xavi Fores. The Spaniard laid down a 1’58.543 to end the day 0.877s off the pace.
Marco Melandri, on the second Aruba Panigale, had clawed his way up to fifth with four minutes left but slipped back to seventh. He stayed ahead of Jordi Torres while the Milwaukee Aprilias complete the automatic Superpole two qualifiers.
Lorenzo Savadori had two crashes in the session both in the last quarter of the lap and both while he was on a lap good enough to take him into the top three, so the Italian has pace if he can make it to the line.
Sylvain Guintoli missed out on SP2 by just 0.047s, taking the Puccetti Kawasaki to a 1’59.053 and he had Leon Camier just behind him in 12th. Those two should be the men to push into SP2 tomorrow.
It was another tough day for Red Bull Honda with Davide Giugliano placing 16th but team-mate Jake Gagne put in a credible performance in 17th as he has never seen Losail before and is only four-tenths behind the Italian.
