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

Results from Free Practice 3, round five of the 2023 World Superbike championship at Misano, Italy.

03 Jun 2023

Alvaro Bautista, Ducati WorldSBK Catalunya 2023

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 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.

2023 World Superbike Misano, Italy - Free Practice (3) Results
Pos	Rider	Nat	Team	Time
1	Alvaro Bautista	SPA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	1:33.825s
2	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	ITA	Aruba.It Racing Ducati	+0.245s
3	Jonathan Rea	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+0.603s
4	Remy Gardner	AUS	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+0.717s
5	Philipp Oettl	GER	GoEleven Ducati	+0.785s
6	Axel Bassani	ITA	Motocorsa Ducati	+0.794s
7	Danilo Petrucci	ITA	Barni Spark Racing Team	+0.871s
8	Andrea Locatelli	ITA	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+0.876s
9	Toprak Razgatlioglu	TUR	Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK	+0.894s
10	Iker Lecuona	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+0.903s
11	Dominique Aegerter	SWI	GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+1.017s
12	Alex Lowes	GBR	Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK	+1.106s
13	Scott Redding	GBR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	+1.355s
14	Xavi Vierge	SPA	Team HRC WorldSBK	+1.417s
15	Bradley Ray	GBR	Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team	+1.438s
16	Loris Baz	FRA	Bonovo Action BMW	+1.838s
17	Tom Sykes	GBR	ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team	+2.192s
18	Lorenzo Baldassarri	ITA	GMT94 Yamaha	+2.221s
19	Hafizh Syahrin	MAL	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+2.572s
20	Luca Vitali	ITA	Orelac Racing Kawasaki	+2.766s
21	Gabriele Ruiu	ITA	Bmax Racing BWM	+2.820s
22	Isaac Vinales	SPA	TPR by Vinales Racing	+3.150s
23	Tito Rabat	SPA	Puccetti Kawasaki	+3.480s
24	Garrett Gerloff	USA	Bonovo Action BMW	+3.578s
25	Ryo Mizuno	JAP	PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing	+3.883s