Jonathan Rea produced a masterclass in the Qatari desert on Friday night at the Losail International Circuit, getting away brilliantly from pole to dominate the penultimate race of season and eventually cross the finish line a clear 4.944s distance ahead of second placed Chaz Davies.

The Race 1 podium at the Acerbis Qatar Round was completed by Marco Melandri.

Having set a new outright circuit record lap in Tissot Superpole 2 earlier in the evening, Rea pushed his Kawasaki ZX-10RR to the limits over the course of the 17-lap contest around the 5.380km Qatari track. He was untouchable at the front as he cruised away for his 15^th win of a remarkable season.

Davies did his best to chase Rea down but would eventually finish a lonely second despite his best efforts – still a good result in his bid to secure the runner-up spot in the 2017 championship. His teammate Melandri crossed the finish line a further five seconds behind him.

Eugene Laverty produced an excellent ride to fourth, missing out on the podium by under two seconds, whilst his colleague Lorenzo Savadori was just behind him - completing the top five.

Tom Sykes, Jordi Torres, Sylvain Guintoli, Leon Camier and Roman Ramos rounded out the top ten.

In a drama-filled race there was cruel luck for Xavi Fores who pulled off track with a technical issue when challenging for a strong podium finish with seven laps to go.

Shortly afterwards Raffaele de Rosa went down at turn 9 when riding in the top ten and then Alex Lowes crashed at the last corner of the lap when also in podium contention. Lowes picked up the Yamaha YZF R1 to go in search of valuable championship points but would crash again in the final stages.

Earlier in the race Michael van der Mark crashed at speed at turn 9 meaning it was a difficult day all round for the Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team.

Race 2 at the Acerbis Qatar Round will take place at 9pm local time on Saturday under the floodlights of the Losail International Circuit.

At the conclusion of the first day of WorldSBK action at the Acerbis Qatar Round Jonathan Rea sat at the top of the combined FP1 and FP2 timesheets with a 1’57.666 lap of the spectacular floodlit Losail International Circuit.

The Northern Irishman’s best time on Thursday came in the earlier of the opening two practice sessions at the final round of the season as he sped around the desert track on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR and finished FP1 a 0.689s margin ahead of his closest rival and teammate Tom Sykes.

Rea was unable to improve in FP2 and Alex Lowes closed the gap at the top of the combined timesheets to 0.259s as the fastest man in that session and the second quickest overall on Thursday.

FP2 was interrupted briefly after a technical problem at turn 10 for the day’s third best overall performer Sykes - which led to a red flag - but the riders were soon back in action after the track conditions were confirmed as safe for them to continue riding.

Chaz Davies was fourth quickest and Michael van der Mark also featured in the top five. At this season-concluding round in Qatar Sykes and Davies will battle it out for the runners-up position in this year’s championship behind title winner Rea.

Xavi Fores, Marco Melandri, Jordi Torres, Eugene Laverty and Laverty’s Aprilia teammate Lorenzo Savadori completed the top ten. Savadori crashed twice in FP2, first at turn 16 and then again at turn 14.

Under the floodlights of the spectacular Losail International Circuit on Friday evening it was triple World Champion Jonathan Rea who qualified on pole with a stunning 1’56.228 lap, putting him nearly half a second ahead of his closest challenger, Alex Lowes. In third place on the grid is Tom Sykes.

Recording a time a tenth of a second under the lap record Rea grabbed pole at the end of an exciting final Tissot Superpole 2 session of the season and he was delighted with his performance.

Also on the front row for Race 1 at the Acerbis Qatar Round are Lowes and Sykes, who qualified 0.447s and 0.835s off P1 respectively.

Xavi Fores will start from the middle of row two, sandwiched between fourth placed Lorenzo Savadori and sixth placed Eugene Laverty.

Michael van der Mark, Chaz Davies and Marco Melandri will all start from the third row, with Davies on a mission to beat Sykes to second place in the 2017 general standings at this final round of the season. Melandri ended the session with a technical problem which prevented him from moving any higher up the grid.

2014 World Champion Sylvain Guintoli qualified in 10th place on the Kawasaki ZX-10RR, riding for the Kawasaki Puccetti Racing team, with Jordi Torres and Leon Camier also slotting in on row four.

Earlier Guintoli grabbed the top spot in SP1 in the final seconds of the session to shoot through to SP2, with the provisional leader in that session Camier also making it through in second place.

As the WorldSBK action commenced on Thursday evening at the Acerbis Qatar Round, the final weekend of the 2017 season, it was Jonathan Rea who led the way with a 1’57.666 lap.

Under the floodlights at the spectacular Losail International Circuit in the Qatari desert Rea outpaced Tom Sykes and Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) who also featured in the top three.

Ahead of the final races of the year on Friday and Saturday the riders got a feel for the desert conditions in FP1 and they will all be pushing as hard as ever this weekend in order to end the year on a high.

Rea was the sharpest performer in the opening practice on his Kawasaki ZX-10RR, lapping a hefty 0.689s margin ahead of his closest rival and teammate Sykes.

The Northern Irishman’s hot lap came towards the end of the hour long practice session as many of the riders improved on their times.

Davies was 0.882s down on Rea in third place, whilst a lap time 1.013s off the triple World Champion’s best effort put Alex Lowes fourth.

This weekend in Qatar Sykes and Davies will battle it out for the runners-up position in this year’s championship behind title winner Rea and both will be looking to gain any psychological advantage they can before Tissot Superpole and Race 1 on Friday.

Michael van der Mark and Eugene Laverty finished the session in fifth and sixth places respectively, whilst Laverty’s Aprilia teammate Lorenzo Savadori was seventh.

Xavi Fores, Marco Melandri and Jordi Torres completed the top ten.