Aprilia’s Marco Melandri holds on to the World Superbike free practice top spot, as no other rider was able to go faster than his 1’43.880 lap in the second free practice session in Portimao. The time was set by the Italian during FP1 this morning.
The diminutive racer tried to better his lap time, but what he did in opening session was enough to hold off the charges from Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes and Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea, who round out the top three. But the Brits did improve on their times, with the Huddersfield man lapping a 1’43.927, and the Northern Irishman finishing the outing with a 1’43.939.
During the early part of FP2 it was Sykes who was one of the first riders to better his time from the opening session and went up to third with a 1’44.464 after ten minutes out on the Portuguese circuit. Sykes was not the only rider to improve in the early part of the sessions – Ducati’s Chaz Davies was on the pace and bettered his position on the time-sheets by two places, from ninth to seventh with a 1’44.727.
But Sykes was able to take advantage of the other riders remaining in the pits for most of the session and a 1’44.031 was good enough to place his Kawasaki second, just behind Melandri with ten minutes remaining.
On the five minute mark, Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes was able to out-pace his team-mate Eugene Laverty, improving on his best lap from FP1 by three tenths - after a 1’44.374 put the Lincolnshire lad fourth. But his Irish colleague had other plans and seconds later lapped a 1’44.147 to edge Lowes down the timesheets, to put the Monaco-based resident on to the provisional front row.
When the chequered flag appeared many of the riders decided to up their game. Most notably Rea who was just inside the top ten, but his 1’43.939 rotation was enough to place him third, pulling his fellow countryman, Laverty back down to fourth.
Davies was able to muster something from his Ducati to go back into fifth with a 1’44.273, edging Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli and Lowes in the process. Kawasaki’s Loris Baz, and Ducati’s Davide Giugliano compete the top ten.
BMW Italia’s Sylvain Barrier was the fastest Evo rider out on the circuit, for the second time today. Alstare’s Christian Iddon ended the session in 16th overall with a 1’45.927.
