ALEIX ESPARGARÓ HAS A FAST PACE, SAM LOWES CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
The second day of practice in Qatar had the MotoGP riders busy in the last two sessions valid for qualifying, focused both on preparing for the race and trying to go through directly to Q2.
Speaking of pace and consistency on used tyres, Aleix Espargaró has something to feel confident about. The Spanish rider found a good base setting, confirmed by his time on a long run taken during FP3 where he finished in tenth place. Taking full advantage of his Aprilia RS-GP's potential on the flying lap with new tyres, on the other hand, proved to be more complicated for Aleix, a condition where he improved his performance but not enough to go straight through to Q2. His 1'55.634 in FP3 earned him a spot in the top 10, 8 tenths behind the best rider of the session.
Sam Lowes and his team were hard at work in the garage, shaving more than a second off their times from yesterday and finishing today's two sessions with a best time of 1'56.854 (1'57.887 in FP1). The Aprilia Racing Team Gresini rookie tried various setup solutions on the 2017 RS-GP that he began using in the last tests right here in Qatar. The assessments made today will allow the English rider to prepare for his first MotoGP race in the best possible way, with the stated goal of aiming for the points zone.