Magny-Cours World Superbike FP3 results: Bautista rockets to top spot
After his big highside in FP1, Axel Bassani encountered technical issues at the beginning of final practice.
While the Italian made a swift return to pit lane, work on Honda’s new chassis was continuing for Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.
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At the top of the leaderboard was Alex Lowes who led a Kawasaki 1-2 ahead of Jonathan Rea.
Lowes then went even faster as he set the quickest lap of the weekend to extend his lead by over two tenths from Garrett Gerloff.
Alvaro Bautista then overhauled the two factory Kawasaki riders as he began to show his true potential. A lap time of 1:36.823s was set by the world champion.
After finding another two tenths on his best time, Bautista then had to play second best to Gerloff who found a blinding 1:36.322s.
As the fast laps continued to come in, Michael Rinaldi went second ahead of Rea who also found a heap of time over his previous best effort.
A statement was then made by Bautista as his last lap saw him fire his Panigale V4 R to top spot with a sub 1m 36s time.
| 2023 World Superbike Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice (3) Results | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | 1:35.895s |
| 2 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | Bonovo Action BMW | +0.427s |
| 3 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +0.536s |
| 4 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.673s |
| 5 | Scott Redding | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +0.790s |
| 6 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | Barni Spark Racing Team | +0.931s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.947s |
| 8 | Remy Gardner | AUS | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +0.970s |
| 9 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +0.992s |
| 10 | Dominique Aegerter | SWI | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +1.084s |
| 11 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +1.230s |
| 12 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +1.259s |
| 13 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +1.345s |
| 14 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +1.475s |
| 15 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | ITA | GMT94 Yamaha | +1.906s |
| 16 | Michael Van Der Mark | NED | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +2.021s |
| 17 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +2.158s |
| 18 | Hannes Soomer | EST | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +2.869s |
| 19 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | TPR by Vinales Racing | +3.034s |
| 20 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +3.131s |
| 21 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +3.210s |
| 22 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +3.430s |
| 23 | Bradley Ray | GBR | Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +7.344s |
| 24 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | No Time Set |
Magny-Cours WorldSBK record
Fastest lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:36.374s
2022 Race Winners
Race 1 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati
Superpole Race - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Race 2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Despite the new chassis, Honda's diffficult weekend continued as Lecuona and Vierge were unable to finish inside the top ten.
Magny-Cours weekend schedule (UK time)
Friday
Free Practice 1 - 09:30-10:15
Free Practice 2 - 14:00-14:45
Saturday
Free Practice 3 - 08:00-08:30
Superpole - 10:10-10:25
Race 1 - 13:00
Sunday
Warm-up - 08:00-08:15
Superpole Race - 10:00
Race 2 - 14:15
