Ducati factory rider Alvaro Bautista takes FT3 best time – Honda only 0.074 seconds back – Philipp Öttl leaves Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea behind
Ducati factory rider Alvaro Bautista has secured the fastest time in the third free practice session at the World Superbike Championship in Misano. With the fastest lap, Bautista underlined his role as favourite at Ducati’s home race. Honda factory rider Iker Lecuona and GoEleven Ducati rider Philipp Öttl were also strong on Saturday morning. The Kawasaki factory duo, on the other hand, struggled.
Conditions on Saturday morning were ideal. With sunshine and 25°C air temperature, the 25 WSBK riders were able to test changes to their superbikes for the last time before Superpole. The tarmac had already warmed up to over 30°C by 9:00am. The first half of FT3 saw few improvements. Alvaro Bautista’s Friday best (1:34.008 minutes) remained unchallenged for 15 minutes.
At the start of the second half of FT3, Alvaro Bautista set the first 1’33” time of the weekend. The clock stopped at 1:33.790 minutes. At this point, Bautista was more than 0.6 seconds faster than his pursuers. More and more riders set personal best times.
Iker Lecuona scrapes the best time on his Honda
Honda rider Iker Lecuona moved into second position with ten minutes to go in FT3. The WSBK rookie missed compatriot Alvaro Bautista’s best time by just 0.005 seconds. Philipp Öttl also set a 1:33 time and moved up to third position. World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) was outside the top 10 at this point.
Alvaro Bautista was not ousted from the top spot in FT3. The Spaniard improved to 1:33.721 minutes on the final lap and finished the final Free Practice session as the leader. Honda rider Iker Lecuona was second, 0.074 seconds behind.
Philipp Öttl leaves Toprak Razgatlioglu and Jonathan Rea behind
Philipp Öttl was just 0.250 seconds off the fastest time. The German thus ended up in third position in FT3, leaving a number of big names behind him. World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu improved to fourth position in the final phase. Local hero Axel Bassani (Motocorsa-Ducati) rounded off the top 5.
Only seven riders failed to improve in FT3. Two of those were the two factory Kawasakis. Jonathan Rea only finished FT3 in sixth position. Kawasaki teammate Alex Lowes was classified in 13th position.
The best BMW finished in tenth position. Scott Redding was marginally faster than Bonovo BMW rider Loris Baz, who finished eleventh. Eugene Laverty finished FT3 in 18th position, with substitute rider Ilya Mikhalchik over three seconds back in 24th and penultimate.
