GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team's Lucas Mahias got off to a superb start in the hot and humid conditions at the crucial final round of the 2017 FIM Supersport World Championship in Qatar. Under the floodlights in the desert, the man who leads the championship by 20 points topped the overall timesheets by 0.412s as he blitzed the opposition into submission to get a crucial weekend started in the best possible fashion. His teammate Federico Caricasulo carried his incredible form from the last round at Jerez that saw him record the 'perfect' weekend to the Losail International Circuit as he ended Thursday in fourth overall, just 0.418s off the pace of his teammate, with both riders making it through automatically to Friday's SP2.