Meaning business from the start, Lowes got his Yoshimura-powered GSX-R up-to-speed quickly at the new Buriram track. Claiming second with his initial laps, a technical delay to his exploratory opening practice did little to dampen his speed. Returning to the track with 35 minutes remaining of the extended 75-minute session, the British racer’s times continued to improve as his familiarity grew, concluding the morning in fifth.

A similarly quick start to his afternoon saw Lowes improve again with his second and third timed-laps, sitting in fourth for the majority of the session as he continued his development. Three consecutive fast laps aboard his Suzuki machine with five minutes of the day’s track action remaining, ensured he clinched the fastest overall time to claim WSBK’s debut provisional pole at the new circuit.

Randy de Puniet’s introduction to the Thai track wasn’t quite as smooth, with engine-brake complications interrupting his study of the unknown layout. As track temperatures rose steadily to 57°C the Frenchman continued his investigation, completing 37 laps as he expanded his knowledge of the GSX-R1000 and the Buriram circuit to finish the day in 13th with a 1’36.263.

Voltcom Crescent Suzuki’s final timed-for-qualifying practice will take place at 09:45hrs local time (02:45GMT) tomorrow morning ahead of the afternoon's grid-deciding Superpole at 15:00hrs (08:00GMT).

Alex Lowes: “Today has been good! It’s always nice to come to a new track, to learn the layout and try to understand the challenges of each corner. I really like the mid-section – you have to be quite physical on the bike which suits my style quite a bit. It’s been a good day, we’ve worked hard and I’ve done a lot of laps, completing two ten-lap runs in the last session, but it’s only Friday and the times are going to get a lot quicker so we’ll see what happens. The heat is obviously hard for everyone but I’m enjoying it! I enjoyed it in Australia even though we didn’t get the results we deserved and I’m enjoying it again here. Thanks to the lads for working really hard, I’ll keep trying and see if I can get some good results on Sunday.”

Randy de Puniet: “I’m not that happy with the first day here as I struggled quite a bit. This morning we had an issue with the brake feeling so it was difficult to stop the bike, we fixed this but I had another issue with the setting this afternoon so it was difficult for me to be consistent with my laps, which is why the position is not as good. If we fix these two problems it will be much, much better but for now it is difficult for me to learn the new track and understand the GSX-R. Tomorrow I hope to fix the issues and concentrate on my riding style and improve the overall performance ready for the races.”