Aruba Ducati’s Chaz Davies took a firm hold of the WorldSBK free practice timesheets at Imola this afternoon, dropping his pace by a second from this morning to lead reigning champion Jonathan Rea by half-a-second with Tom Sykes in third but some distance behind the Panigale.
Davies dominated the afternoon period, taking his time down from a 1’47.070 to a 1’46.747, 1’46.422 and then a 1’46.229 for his fastest to easily get under the current lap record and set a blistering pace for race one tomorrow after qualifying. The Welshman put in
Rea also stuck in a 15-lap race run which culminated in his first lap under the 1’47s barrier, a 1’46.941 after 14 laps on the same tyre. He then came in to attach some fresh hoops but couldn’t match Davies for outright speed over a lap and has a disadvantage over comes to race distance.
Davies managed eight laps in the 1’46s with six in the 1’47s while Rea is almost the opposite, four 1’46s and nine in the 1’47s in Italy tomorrow, if weather conditions remain as they are today, it looks very much like a two-horse race.
Rea’s works Kawasaki’s team-mate Tom Sykes is a little behind as he didn’t break into the 1’46s at all in the session with a fastest of 1’47.125 but should the pace be slower from the leading two, Sykes should be able to stay with them.
Marco Melandri showed flashes of real pace in the first sector but then slowly slips behind the leading two. He is quicker than Sykes apart from sector four, which lets him down and the Italian ended in fourth place but less than a tenth behind the Huddersfield man.
After the leading four, it is the best of the rest as fifth-placed man Xavi Fores - who crashed again at Tamburello in a mirror of his morning-session spill - is some 1.6s slower than Davies. Alex Lowes found some pace right at the end of the session to lift him from 11th to sixth putting in a 1’48.089 to secure an automatic qualifying two spot.
Leon Camier improved his laptime from this morning and had a trouble-free run to seventh on the combined timesheet, one ahead of Michael Van Der Mark. Tati Mercado was the leading Aprilia in ninth while Eugene Laverty - by the tash on his lip - was the last man into Q2. The Milwaukee Aprilia man crashed at Variante Alta at session start and spent half the session in his garage while the RSV4 was repaired.
Jordi Torres and Nicky Hayden will be favourites to make it through qualifying one in the morning but the American didn’t manage to better his FP1 time. Red Bull Honda team-mate Stefan Bradl did as he continues to learn the circuit, ending in 13th and two-tenths slower than Hayden.
