Aprilia’s Sylvain Guintoli used his prior track knowledge to his advantage during this afternoon's second World Superbike free practice session in Sepang. The Frenchman set the fastest time of 2’05.096 and was able to edge his team-mate Marco Melandri off the top of the timesheets.
In a repeat of the morning’s FP1 session it was an Aprilia 1-2-3, with Red Devils Roma’s Toni Elias completing the provisional front row. But Melandri and Elias did not find any extra pace in FP2, but their best laps from the first session were still good enough to place them second and third respectively on the timing-screens.
This is the first time that the series has held a round at the Malaysian circuit, but the top three have all experienced the track before in their respective MotoGP and 250cc careers. Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes was one of the first riders who bettered their time set in the morning session, but the reigning champ still couldn’t penetrate the top two and was still one tenth off the pace of Melandri after 15 minutes with a 2’05.283.
Throughout the session the temperatures continued to rise with many riders retreating to the cool of their garages and stayed in the shade from the sweltering heat. But the weather didn’t seem to affect Ducati’s Chaz Davies. The Welshman pushed his way into the top five with a 2’05.448 with 12 minutes remaining, getting the better of team-mate Giugliano in the process by five tenths of a second.
Davies has prior experience to the Malaysian circuit after his time competing in a MotoGP race in 2007 and in the 250cc classes too, and his track knowledge gave him that extra edge over his Italian garage-buddy. But it was not to last. A quick final lap from Giugliano powered him through to fourth overall - with less than 20 seconds left on the clock.
Voltcom Suzuki’s Alex Lowes was new to the track but certainly appeared to enjoy his time out on the circuit. The Lincolnshire lad was able to improve from FP1 and after 35 minutes leapt to seventh from tenth after a 2’06.089 followed closely by Pata Honda’s Jonathan Rea and Voltcom Suzuki’s Eugene Laverty.
But Laverty was not going to let his rookie team-mate get the better of him and went 0.08 seconds quicker with only five minutes of track time left. Elsewhere at the top of the timesheets Guintoli clocked a 2’05.096 going one tenth quicker than Melandri’s fastest lap – and into the provisional pole position.
Laverty was on a roll and soon had his sight set on a place inside the top five – and he did just that with only two minutes left. He overtook Davies on the timesheets to place his Suzuki on a provisional second row with a 2’05.356.
When the chequered flag appeared Giugliano stormed to fourth which meant that Sykes, Laverty, Davies and Rea were all pushed down the table – with only five tenths of a second separating the Irish, British and Welsh pack.
Lowes was unable to get a last lap dash under his belt and slipped down to tenth, followed by Pata Honda’s Leon Haslam. BMW Italia’s Leon Camier was literally riding through the pain – after sustaining a nasty bicep injury during the last round.
But the pain didn’t seem to be much of an issue for the Kent rider as he ended the afternoon the fastest Evo bike in the class after a solid 2’06.898, placing him 12th overall. Alstare’s Christian Iddon ended the afternoon in 15th on his Bimota BB3 Evo machine.
