Submitted by David Emmett on
Sam Lowes continues to reign supreme in the Moto2 class at Qatar, leading the second session of free practice almost from the start and never being challenged. The Speed Up rider could not quite get under the two minute mark in FP2, but he was once again under Tito Rabat's pole record from last year.
Reigning champion Rabat ended the day second, a third of a second behind Lowes, and ahead of Johann Zarco this time. Axel Pons set the 4th fastest time, another third of a second behind Zarco, and over a second behind the pace of Lowes. Pons heads up a large group of close riders, with Taka Nakagami, Tom Luthi, Sandro Cortese and Xavier Simeon separated by tenth of a second, and Alex Rins another two tenths behind in 9th. Rins was once again impressive, faster than both his teammate Luis Salom, and the reigning Moto3 champion and former teammate Alex Marquez. Marquez ended down in 18th.
Results:
Pos | No | Rider | Bike | Time | Diff | Prev |
1 | 22 | Sam Lowes | Speed Up | 2'00.025 | ||
2 | 1 | Tito Rabat | Kalex | 2'00.368 | 0.343 | 0.343 |
3 | 5 | Johann Zarco | Kalex | 2'00.687 | 0.662 | 0.319 |
4 | 49 | Axel Pons | Kalex | 2'01.043 | 1.018 | 0.356 |
5 | 30 | Takaaki Nakagami | Kalex | 2'01.123 | 1.098 | 0.080 |
6 | 12 | Thomas Luthi | Kalex | 2'01.124 | 1.099 | 0.001 |
7 | 11 | Sandro Cortese | Kalex | 2'01.175 | 1.150 | 0.051 |
8 | 19 | Xavier Simeon | Kalex | 2'01.175 | 1.150 | 0.000 |
9 | 40 | Alex Rins | Kalex | 2'01.397 | 1.372 | 0.222 |
10 | 3 | Simone Corsi | Kalex | 2'01.445 | 1.420 | 0.048 |
11 | 21 | Franco Morbidelli | Kalex | 2'01.493 | 1.468 | 0.048 |
12 | 39 | Luis Salom | Kalex | 2'01.505 | 1.480 | 0.012 |
13 | 96 | Louis Rossi | Tech 3 | 2'01.525 | 1.500 | 0.020 |
14 | 94 | Jonas Folger | Kalex | 2'01.686 | 1.661 | 0.161 |
15 | 23 | Marcel Schrotter | Tech 3 | 2'01.723 | 1.698 | 0.037 |
16 | 60 | Julian Simon | Speed Up | 2'01.863 | 1.838 | 0.140 |
17 | 95 | Anthony West | Speed Up | 2'02.050 | 2.025 | 0.187 |
18 | 73 | Alex Marquez | Kalex | 2'02.076 | 2.051 | 0.026 |
19 | 36 | Mika Kallio | Kalex | 2'02.127 | 2.102 | 0.051 |
20 | 4 | Randy Krummenacher | Kalex | 2'02.160 | 2.135 | 0.033 |
21 | 55 | Hafizh Syahrin | Kalex | 2'02.309 | 2.284 | 0.149 |
22 | 88 | Ricard Cardus | Tech 3 | 2'02.489 | 2.464 | 0.180 |
23 | 25 | Azlan Shah | Kalex | 2'02.595 | 2.570 | 0.106 |
24 | 7 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | Kalex | 2'02.758 | 2.733 | 0.163 |
25 | 77 | Dominique Aegerter | Kalex | 2'03.251 | 3.226 | 0.493 |
26 | 51 | Zaqhwan Zaidi | Suter | 2'03.644 | 3.619 | 0.393 |
27 | 10 | Thitipong Warokorn | Kalex | 2'03.751 | 3.726 | 0.107 |
28 | 66 | Florian Alt | Suter | 2'03.930 | 3.905 | 0.179 |
29 | 2 | Jesko Raffin | Kalex | 2'04.806 | 4.781 | 0.876 |
30 | 70 | Robin Mulhauser | Kalex | 2'05.409 | 5.384 | 0.603 |
Comments
Glad I chose a Kalex like everyone else.
Now what was it that our esteemed host was saying about teams and herd mentalities?
Lowes
Has never looked stronger. Run after run. He just keeps laying down fast times consistantly.