WorldSBK Press Office

Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) starred in Free Practice Three at the Chang International Circuit, where there was never much more than a tenth of a second separating the top five. 

Each of the best eight in the combined results set their fastest time in the third session, and rankings were therefore changeable throughout. But Rea continued a day of steady improvement, climbing from eleventh in FP1, to fourth in FP2 and finally to lead the list of automatic qualifiers to Saturday’s Tissot-Superpole session.

Eugene Laverty (Milwaukee Aprilia) was the biggest name not to improve in FP3. After heading the timesheets in FP2, he collided with Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) in dramatic fashion. Both riders bit the asphalt but climbed back aboard their machines. Fores was later confirmed fit to continue his weekend after suffering an abrasion to his toes. Both finished comfortably inside the top ten despite the incident: Fores, who finished FP1 on top, remained the lead independent rider as has become his custom in 2018, while Laverty dropped back to ninth.

Behind the lead British duo on the timesheets, Jordi Torres (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) finished third having, until the final batch of hot laps, sat first.

Aruba.it Racing – Ducati runners Marco Melandri and Chaz Davies made the biggest improvements in FP3. Australian double winner Melandri found almost a second to leap from tenth to fourth, and Davies showing no ill effects after his crash in FP2.

Leon Camier (Red Bull Honda World Superbike Team) was the top Honda runner throughout, with Yamaha also represented in the top ten through Michael Van Der Mark (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team). The Dutchman finished the session just two thousandths of a second clear of crash duo Fores and Laverty, with his teammate Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) also behind and occupying the last of the top ten positions.

Behind the breakaway group of eight, there was a close contest to hold on to a place in the top ten: four riders separated by one and a half tenths of a second. Despite setting more laps than anyone in the three sessions combined, Loris Baz (GULF ALTHEA BMW Racing Team) was unable to force a seventh manufacturer into the day’s top ten, the Frenchman twelfth but well clear of the pack of independent riders directly behind.

WorldSBK riders take to the track at 10.45LT (+7 GMT) for FP4 ahead of a jam packed Saturday, with Superpole at 13.55 and the action kicking off with Race One at 16.00LT.

WorldSSP

A familiar pecking order emerged after Free Practice Two for the FIM Supersport World Championship in Thailand.  The lead duo in the series after the Australian Round, Lucas Mahias (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) and Randy Krummenacher (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Team), were comfortably fastest in FP1 but saw their advantage slashed in the second session.

Federico Caricasulo (GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team) in particular made a significant gain during the day, closing over half a second on Mahias’ 1:37.469 time and to within three tenths of a second of top spot.  But the Italian’s new fastest time only enabled him to remain in third position, just ahead of Jules Cluzel who completed a lead quartet of Yamaha runners.

Thai Wild Card riders Thitipong Warokorn (CORE Kawasaki Thailand Racing Team) and Ratthapong Wilairot (Yamaha Thailand Racing Team) finished just over a tenth of a second from one another, disputing the last of the top ten positions.

In what was a close session throughout, Lucas Mahias was one of only two among the top ten riders who failed to improve his pace in FP2.  The other was Luke Stapleford (Profile Racing), who suffered a turn five crash less than ten minutes into the session and dropped from fifth to ninth overall.

The fastest seven ahead of him were eventually separated by less than half a second in the first two sessions combined, and with third place in particular having been closely contested right to the flag in Australia, indications are for a similarly close-fought race weekend in Thailand.

With Superpole on the agenda for Saturday, WorldSSP will prepare for Superpole to commence at 14.30LT.