Pata Yamaha’s Alex Lowes has taken charge of the Qatar WorldSBK timesheets, putting down a 1’57.656 to top session one leader Eugene Laverty with reigning champion Jonathan Rea third.
Lowes laid down a 1’57.656 to open a 0.025s gap over the Milwaukee Aprilia rider and the pair are half a second ahead of Rea, who bounced back from a crash earlier on today.
With Losail’s 3,600 lightbulbs now fully fired up, it was Jonathan Rea’s (Kawasaki) turn to power back following a luckless FP1. The Northern Irishman claimed the top spot halfway through the session over a combative Laverty, who remained nestled between the two KRT riders all the way up to the final third of the session.
The timesheets changed wildly in the final minutes, however, with Lowes moving into P1 by over half a second. Laverty followed suit a few minutes after, crossing the line just 0.025 seconds short of the Englishman’s best time. The Irishman had one final attempt to beat Lowes with the chequered flag down, but it will be the Yamaha rider who enters the final session of the day in command.
Rea was unable to fight back and falls to third after FP2, followed closely by teammate Tom Sykes. Xavi Fores (Barni Ducati) remains in fifth position and is provisionally the best Ducati in Qatar, with Marco Melandri falling to sixth position and Chaz Davies only just nudging into tenth.
Loris Baz climbs up to seventh position after FP2, with Lorenzo Savadori in eighth, and Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha) joining the top ten in ninth position.
The session was briefly interrupted after a crash from Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team), with the red flags coming out just eight minutes in.
