WSBK Doha Free Practice: Initial advantage to Ducati and Kawasaki

While Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was crowned World Champion in the Nièvre and Álvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) is firmly in second place, it is the third final position of the Championship which is the The subject of a close fight in Qatar between Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who has 305 points, Michael van der Mark (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 304, and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Turkish Puccetti Racing) 299.

It is this weekend that the last race of Marco Melandri (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK) in WSBK. For the Italian, who will race next year in the Italian Electric Motorcycle Championship, “I am in Qatar with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I don't want this part of my life to end. Since I was four years old, I've only thought about driving and it's the best thing I've done in my life. It’s an honor to have been able to play this sport for so many years. ".

“On the other hand, I can't wait for the season to end. Not being able to ride the way I want and having to fight with the bike, being slow, it's just frustrating. It's really difficult to see that the results you get don't match your abilities. I think I'll realize next year, when the season starts and I won't be there. »

“I'm scared to start this new chapter in my life, but I'm very curious to see what the world has to offer me after the competition. I don't want to make a plan. I just want to enjoy every moment by living day to day. »

For the five-time reigning World Champion Jonathan Rhea, « I can't believe it's the end of another season. If we managed to achieve the objective that we set ourselves at the start of the year during the Magny-Cours round, there is still a lot to do for this weekend. »

“We are trying to bring the manufacturer’s title back to Kawasaki. It's good to have these targets for the weekend at a circuit that I really love. I love everything about running. Riding under the lights is something truly special because you feel at one with the bike as there are no external distractions in your line of sight. Our goal is simple: win races and finish the season in style. »

According to Alvaro Bautista, “The races in Argentina were very difficult and I tried to bring back the best possible results, but I am a little disappointed because even in the second race we were able to fight for victory. All we have to do now is look to the future and try to finish the season with a good result in what will unfortunately for me be my last race with the Aruba team and with Ducati. It will be interesting to see the comparison with MotoGP in Qatar, as it has been over a year since I last raced at this track. Normally for me it was the first round of the season, now it will be the last, but I'm curious to see the difference between the two categories. »

According to Loris Baz, “The week was mainly dedicated to recovery after the two falls in Argentina. I've had an assessment of the injuries and I'm happy to say there's nothing to worry about. My back is still a little tight, but physiotherapy should fix it before we start the last race weekend of the season. I always love racing in Qatar, the track layout is great and it's always very special to ride in the dark under the lights. We know from Alex's performance last year that the Yamaha R1 works well there, so hopefully we can start with a solid base and finish the season on a good note, with a podium finish. proved so difficult so far and a tenth place in the championship. That’s the target.”

To Tom Sykes, “I’m really looking forward to the races in Doha. For me, it's always a big event in the spotlight. I really like the layout of the circuit. It seems quite incredible that we are already at the end of the season, but the development of the BMW S 1000 RR continues. Doha is a very different circuit in terms of overall setup, so hopefully we can get a good result to finish off what I believe has been a very good first season for the new RR. »

During the first free practice session, Johnny Rea set the pace in 1'58.755, 0.045 ahead of Toprak Razgatlioglu. Alex Lowes picked up the pace in 1'58.493, then Razgatlioglu progressed to 1'58.140. He then preceded Alex Lowes, Johnny Rea and Loris Baz who defended well, preceding Álvaro Bautista. Sandro Cortese, who is eyeing the place of Baz's teammate at Ten Kate, moved to third.

The best time of this first session went to Rea in 1'58.010, who was ahead of Razgatlioglu, van der Mark, Lowes (who fell on his last lap, without seriousness), Cortese, Baz and Bautista.

Chaz Davies also had a small fall:

 

Results of the first free practice session:

During the second session, they attacked very hard from the start with Bautista in 1'57.767 who preceded Rea by 0.192 and Razgatlioglu by 0.373. Curiously, the majority of drivers drove relatively little, even though the start time of this FP2 (20 p.m. local time) corresponded to that of the starts of races 1 (Friday) and 2 (Saturday).

Obviously, the times only went down very gradually, but with the first 15 were grouped in 1.3s 10 minutes from the checkered flag. The atmosphere was more of a test of endurance and wear and tear of tires supplied by Pirelli than raw performance on a lap.

In the very last minutes, Chaz Davies took the lead in 1'57.449, 0.318 ahead of his teammate Álvaro Bautista. Johnny Rea was inserted between the two Ducatis, 0.273 behind Davies. Tom Sykes moved up to sixth at 0.806 with his BMW.

Two Ducatis and two Kawasakis therefore occupied the first four places, ahead of a Yamaha and a BMW. Loris Baz finished this first day in tenth position, 1.117 behind Chaz Davies.

Results of the first day of free practice:

Reference times:

Test record: 1'56.124 by Tom Sykes (Kawasaki) in 2018

Lap record: 1'56.974 1 by Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) in 2016

Provisional ranking of the World Championship:

Photos © worldsbk.com / Dorna