The 2021 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship returned to the track on Saturday morning for FP3 at the TT Circuit Assen and the Prosecco DOC Dutch Round. Setting the pace and a new fastest lap of the weekend, Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) has a strong advantage in his pocket ahead of Tissot Superpole, whilst Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) were second and third respectively on the combined times.

Lying in first place and in a prime position ahead of the Tissot Superpole session, it was Scott Redding who topped FP3 on Saturday morning. The Ducati star smashed the fastest lap time of the weekend by setting a 1’34.108. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was sixth in FP3 but never improved his time from yesterday, which was good enough for second overall. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was fifth in the session but third overall as he, like Rea, didn’t improve. He was ahead of Championship leader Toprak Razgatlioglu, with the Turk in second but more than half a second behind Redding in the session and fourth overall. Chaz Davies returned to the top three to make it two Ducatis at the front on Saturday morning, placing fifth overall.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was top Kawasaki in fourth in FP3, good enough for sixth overall as the Englishman made strides in comparison to a tricky opening day on Friday. Alvaro Bautista (Team HRC) languished outside the top ten on Saturday morning, but Friday’s fast pace still put him seventh overall, whilst Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) completed the top ten overall; Italian Locatelli was seventh in FP3 as he shadowed teammate Razgatlioglu, improving his time by more than two tenths of a second. One of the talking points coming out of the session was that home-hero Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) didn’t set a lap time as he was once again plagued by technical issues.

Top six on combined times after FP3 below, full results here:

1. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1’34.108s
2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.283s
3. Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.404s
4. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.566s
5. Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) +0.595s
6. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.600s

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