Mahias Sets the Bar in Buriram on Friday

Free practice
GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team's Lucas Mahias continued where he had left off in Phillip Island on Friday for Round 2 of the 2018 FIM Supersport World Championship in Buriram, Thailand. The reigning WorldSSP Champion dominated proceedings on the opening day at a hot and humid Chang International Circuit, leading the way in both practice sessions and ending the day on top of the timesheets with a sensational 1:37.469.
Mahias carried on the form that saw him dominate the opening round at Phillip Island, where he took a superb win from pole position to get his title defence off to the perfect start. The 28-year-old French rider topped FP1 by setting a 1:37.469, just 0.124s off the WorldSSP lap record at the circuit. Having prepared specially for the hot and humid conditions in Thailand, his pace showed no signs of wilting in the afternoon's warmer FP2 session as he set a 1:37.592, with Mahias able to show excellent consistency as he used the session to work on his setup for Sunday's race. After topping both practice sessions, he now heads into Saturday's qualifying full of confidence, looking to secure his third pole position in a row.
Lucas Mahias
GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team - 1st - 1:37.469
"Today was a big surprise because this is not my strongest track on the calendar, it can be difficult and I don't exactly have a brilliant record here. I went out and followed my plan for the moment, which is just to relax on the bike and enjoy riding it, and it felt good. When I came in from FP1 it was a big surprise because my lap time was very fast and close to the lap record. In FP2, it was hotter and so it was a little bit tougher but I worked on my race pace, and my lap times were good. I didn't put in a new tyre at the end of FP2 to try and set a fast lap because I am feeling confident and normally you don't improve a lot due to the temperature. The feeling was really good, the R6 was perfect and I have been working a lot with the mechanics to tweak the settings and it feels amazing now. You can see how good the R6 is by the fact Yamaha managed a 1-2-3-4. I will be aiming to try and get the same results as I did in Qatar and Phillip Island. The weekend has started well, but I am sorry that Kenan (Sofouglu) cannot ride due to his injury, I wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to battling him again on track soon!"
Filippo Conti
GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team Manager
"It has been another great day! First Lucas showed amazing pace and confirmed how quick he can be. It's incredible, he just seems so comfortable on his R6 at the moment. Federico also worked very well and it was important for us to get such a great start for both riders. In both sessions, we were first and third, so that means we are working in the right way and we hope to continue this so we can reach our targets this weekend. I want to thank the team for working so hard and Yamaha for providing an amazing package, as always, and we will try and fight for the win again like we did last year!"