Britain’s Sam Lowes went under his own Moto2 track record in the third free practice session in Qatar to top the timesheets by a just over two-tenths from Thomas Luthi with Lorenzo Baldassarri in third and another 0.044s behind.
Lowes first put in a 1’59.294 which put yesterday’s two crashes firmly behind him and then upped the pace again - dealing in traffic - with a 1’59.262 to go two-tenths under his own outright record, securing top spot on the day and on the combined timesheets.
“I’m really happy because today we made many fast laps: every time I had a clear track I made 1’59, so I feel strong. The track conditions changed yesterday, it was different from the test and I made a couple of mistakes. However, now the bike is working well, there is more rubber on the track so the feeling is good. We keep working, but 1’59”2 on lap 11 is really impressive and it makes us really confident ahead of the race, so thanks to the team and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” said Lowes.
Baldassarri was late to the party with his 16th lap of 19, setting a 1’59.517 which pushed Marcel Schrotter back to fourth place. Yesterday’s quickest man Jonas Folger was fifth while reigning champion Johann Zarco could only managed sixth place and 0.420s off the pace.
Britain’s Danny Kent found some speed late on and hauled himself into 13th place with a 2’00.285.
