Misano World Superbike FP3 Results: Bautista clear of the chasing pack again

Alvaro Bautista was once again in imperious form as he dominated World Superbike FP3 at Misano. 

Making a strong start to FP3, Alex Lowes was the early leader from teammate Jonathan Rea, as a margin of three tenths split the factory Kawasaki pair.

• Lowes: I’m not going to ride for free, brother Sam “wants to come to WorldSBK” 
• “I’m not so good and don’t understand why” - Rea facing last sector problems 

Lowes soon saw him time beaten by Michael Ruben Rinaldi, as the Ducati rider continued his impressive form from day-one.

Garrett Gerloff was the first rider to come unstuck as he crashed with less than ten minutes of the session gone.

Back at the front, Bautista’s ominous day-one performance continued as he went quickest by nearly seven tenths. 

Rea and Kawasaki then took advantage of the cooler temperatures to go quickest, however, the six-time champion saw his time obliterated by Bautista once again.

A time of 1:33.466s put Bautista close to half a second clear of Rea, while Rinaldi was six tenths back from the reigning world champion.

Although it was a narrow improvement, Bautista beat his personal best time to extend his advantage to 0.516s over Rea with half the session remaining. 

Circulating with a Q tyre, Bautista continued pumping in fast times as he found yet more pace with a time of 1:33.352s.

Lorenzo Baldassarri was the second rider to suffer a crash after losing the front-end of his Yamaha R1 at turn six.

Rinaldi eventually cut Bautista’s lead to just over two tenths, however, the former MotoGP rider remained fastest. 

The Italian’s session ended with him running off circuit and through the gravel at turn 14.

Misano World Superbike Records

Lap Record - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 1:33.722s (2022)

2022 Race Winners

Race 1 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati 

Superpole Race - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha

Race 2 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati

Like in FP2, Toprak Razgatlioglu spent the majority of FP3 focusing on race pace as he struggled to match the pace of those at the front. 

Weekend schedule (UK Time)

Friday 

09:30-10:15 - Free Practice 1

14:00-14:45 - Free Practice 2

Saturday 

08:00-08:30 - Free Practice 3

10:10-10:25 - Superpole 

13:00 - Race 1

Sunday 

08:00-08:15 - Warm-up

10:00 - Superpole Race

13:00 - Race 2