2022 World Superbike Misano, Italy - Free Practice Results (3)

Alvaro Bautista holds off impressive World Superbike rookies Iker Lecuona and Philipp Oettl to maintain Misano advantage. 

As the only rider who failed to improve during FP2, Andrea Locatelli wasted no time in showing his pace - the Italian set a time of 1:34.711s to go quickest from Alex Lowes. 

Locatelli then lowered the benchmark time by another three tenths as he moved four tenths clear of Axel Bassani. 

With the ‘big three’ yet to show their hand, Bautista made sure to change that as he leaped to the front of the leaderboard. 

After leading the way on Friday’s combined times, Bautista continued to look strong, as did Ducati.  

In what was a big theme from Friday, deleted laps due to exceeding track limits continued to hamper riders. 

Loris Baz was the first to see a fast lap deleted before Lecuona suffered the same fate. 

Following that theme, Luca Bernardi endured a disastrous start to FP3 as the World Superbike rookie completed four laps, none of which stood due to going beyond track limits. The Ducati rider finally set a time of 1:36.363s to go P18. 

With Razgatlioglu and Rea nowhere to be seen regarding the fastest times, Bautista hammered home his advantage as he set the first sub 1m 34s lap of the weekend. 

The Aruba.it Ducati rider’s time of 1:33.790s was also six tenths clear of Locatelli in second. 

Yet to show podium potential so far this weekend, FP3 saw Lecuona announce himself as a real threat after going +0.005s off Bautista’s stunning time.

It wasn’t just Lecuona showing serious pace as fellow rookie Oettl also broke the 1m 34s barrier to go P3.

Already fastest, Bautista consolidated his lead after going even quicker with his final effort.  

Misano World Superbike Records

Fastest ever lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:33.416s (2021)

Fastest Race lap - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati 1:34.356s (2021) 

2021 Race Winners 

Race 1 - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati

Superpole Race - Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Ducati

Race 2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha

Title favourites dominate opening day of Misano World Superbike action

In what was a bizarre announcement at the start of FP2, GRT Yamaha rider Kohta Nozane was forced to miss the opening ten minutes due to failing to follow instructions of the marshals in FP1. 

On track, Rea made a blistering start to FP2 as he went underneath Razgatlioglu’s fastest time from this morning on just his second lap.

Another strong effort from Rea saw the six-time World Superbike champion set a time of 1:34.134s - half a second clear of Alvaro Bautista.

Razgatlioglu did manage to reduce Rea’s deficit to just over a tenth, however, the reigning world champion quickly saw his time deleted due to exceeding track limits. 

Determined to secure P2, Razgatlioglu regrouped in order to move above the Ducatis of Michael Rinaldi and Bautista, albeit the Turkish rider was still three tenths down on Rea.

While the top two returned to pit lane, FP2 saw impressive World Superbike rookie Iker Lecuona make another strong start. 

Track limits catch out several riders…

While the former MotoGP rider moved up to sixth - +0.659s off Rea’s time, track limits were proving difficult for some to get on top of.

The latest to have a lap time deleted was fellow Honda rider Leandro Mercado, who was struggling down in 21st place. 

After jumping into the top ten, Gerloff also had his time deleted as he ran across the green between turns 15 and 16. 

Looking to bounce back from a difficult morning session where track time was limited due to electronics issues, Scott Redding saw one of his better laps deleted due to, yes you guessed it, exceeding track limits, as did Bautista with 25 minutes remaining.    

As Rea continued to lead, Bautista made sure that it was by the thinnest of margins as he went +0.016s down on the Kawasaki rider. Also finding pace was Razgatlioglu as the Pata Yamaha rider also closed in on the top two. 

Narrowly missing out on setting the first sub 1m 33s lap of the weekend, Bautista’s second stint was proving to be a very good one as he took over top spot by +0.036s. 

Like Nozane in FP1, there was a late fall for BMW rider Gabriele Ruiu. 

With new tyres fitted the top three all began laps with red sectors, but while Rea’s effort went away from him, Bautista improved again to post a 1:34.008s. 

Razgatlioglu, not for the first time in FP2, saw a time good enough for top spot get deleted before he eventually jumped up to P2 on his next lap.  

Late improvements from Philipp Oettl and Garrett Gerloff saw the pair move ahead of Alex Lowes with fifth and sixth, while the top four remained unchanged.

Remaining World Superbike Misano weekend schedule 

Saturday 

10:10-10:25 - Superpole 

13:00 Race 1

Sunday 

08:00-08:15 Warm-up 

10:00 Superpole Race 

14:15 Race 2