GRT Yamaha Official WorldSSP Team's Lucas Mahias followed up his dominant performance on Thursday under the lights in Qatar by smashing the lap record in SP2 on Friday on his way to recording his first pole position of the season. The Championship leader set a 2:00.738 on his penultimate lap to ensure he will start Saturday's crucial race from the head of the front row, knowing he just needs to finish in tenth or higher to be crowned the 2017 FIM Supersport World Champion. Teammate Federico Caricasulo enjoyed another good day as he showed superb consistency, qualifying in seventh for Saturday's race and confident he can fight for the victory.