Jordi Torres kept up his flying form at Qatar World Superbikes as the Spaniard held onto top spot in the third practice session at Losail ahead of Michael Van Der Mark.
Torres, Van Der Mark and Leon Haslam all produced fine laps late in the session, after most of the field had struggled to do any better than Jonathan Rea’s 1’58.252 set during second practice last night.
Even Rea couldn’t improve his times throughout the session, as he, Kawasaki team-mate Tom Sykes and Imre Toth were the only riders unable to post better times in third practice.
It looked as though Van Der Mark had taken top honours with five minutes left in the session, as the Dutchman posted an impressive 1’58.059 but just like he did in the earlier sessions, Torres came late to head the leaderboard as he improved his 1’58.114 to a 1’58.044 and with it fill himself full of confidence ahead of Superpole.
Despite being unable to improve his times from yesterday, Tom Sykes’ 1’58.637 was enough for seventh as he looks to go for yet another Superpole victory this evening.
Alex Lowes and Chaz Davies occupied fifth and sixth, respectively, ahead of the Yorkshireman while behind Sykes rounding out the top ten were Xavi Fores on the Ducati, Lowes’ Suzuki team-mate Randy DePuniet and Matteo Baiocco.
