Kawasaki’s Jonathan Rea has seized control of the Magny-Cours World Superbike timesheets in France this afternoon, going under Tom Sykes’ two-year old lap record in free practice two and opening a gap of almost three-tenths of a second to next quickest man Chaz Davies on the Aruba Ducati.
Rea’s fastest lap, set with only a minute left to run, was a 1’37.750 compared to Sykes’ race record of 1’37.932 and the Castletown resident was the only man to break the 1’38s barrier as Davies’ best came in at a 1’38.044 and was just enough to hold off a charging Sykes who managed a 1’38.073 with three minutes left on the clock.
Rea had put in a long run in the middle of the session, doing nine laps where he didn’t deviate from the 1’38s bracket with a total of 13, came in for a fresh tyre and immediately pushed into the 1’37s. Davies managed 10 laps in the 1’38s broken into three runs while Sykes also did ten 1’38s laps in three runs, with his best on the penultimate.
Red Devils Aprilia’s Leon Haslam challenged for top spot several times in the 45-minute session and was on a fastest lap schedule twice but lost out in the last sector. The British rider’s best came at the end of his second run where he put in a 1’38.330 after he had been fastest on a 1’38.380 with 20 minutes of the session left.
Alex Lowes, on the Voltcom Suzuki, found some pace over lunch and occupies fifth place with his best of a 1’38.390, set on the second and final lap of his second stint and he managed four laps in the 1’38s in what was a disjointed session for the young Derbyshireman.
Althea Ducati’s Nico Canepa started fast and improved to a 1’38.790 with his second lap and, like Leon Haslam, was able to hold a fastest lap schedule until the final sector where it went away from him but he regrouped and set a 1’38.496 for sixth place, one ahead of the improving Jordi Torres, who is still getting used to the French circuit.
The Spanish ex-Moto2 star ended his day on a 1’38.824 which was enough to see off Matteo Baiocco, Luca Scassa and Ayrton Badovini. Tati Mercado found eight-tenths to place 11th while former champion Sylvain Guintoli was the only rider not to improve in the afternoon session.
Leon Camier pulled another half a second out of the MV Agusta and ended his day in 15th place, one ahead of former MotoGP rider Randy De Puniet.
