Lowes and Melandri the fastest in SBK FP2 at Phillip Island

The World Superbike and Supersport championships have held their second free practice session at Phillip Island Circuit, with the fastest in SSP once again being Sam Lowes, who continues unstoppable with his Yamaha.

The first riders out on track for FP have been the SSP riders, who once again saw Lowes take control of the free session, although at the start of it the current champion, Kenan Sofuoglu, placed himself in first position, but then saw the Briton overtake him and take the lead by 0.192s, with the Turk and the Briton the only ones to lap under 1:34.

Behind the leading group, Leonov placed himself in third position, completing the top 10 with Van der Mark 4th, Coghlan 5th, Rolfo 6th, Baldolini 7th, Iddon 8th, Kennedy 9th and Hook 10th. Meanwhile, our riders finished 19th for David Salom and 25th for Nacho Calero; the Mallorcan, who has a fractured finger on his right hand, has medical clearance and now the decision depends on him and his team, and on the feeling he had on the bike in this FP2.

We had two crashes at the start of the session, that of Fabien Foret, and then Iddon’s at turn 11, both of whom are fine.

Then it was the turn of the riders of the World Superbike championship with their second free practice session, the last before the fight for superpole, with a novelty: this time Fabrizio was not the fastest, as Marco Melandri took the baton and managed to set a SUPER LAP of 1:30.814, becoming the first rider on the grid to dip under 1:30, followed by Guintoli, who was 0.076s behind the Italian. In addition, the 33 crashed at the end of the session after setting that time; it was clear he was pushing the machine hard, and he went down at turn 4, but fortunately he is physically fine.

Behind them was Carlos Checa, who was 3rd but with a 1:31, although still affected by the crash he suffered yesterday; fortunately he looks better each time. Completing the top 10 were Sykes 4th, Camier 5th, Giugliano 6th, Laverty 7th, Rea 8th, Fabrizio 9th and Baz 10th.

With 34 minutes left in the session, a red flag was shown, as all riders entered the pit lane and the track remained closed for several minutes; apparently everything was caused by the crash of Leon Haslam at turn 11, fortunately he seems to be fine.

Now comes the moment of truth: Superpole.

Photo | WorldSBK and teams