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Razgatlioglu and Rea battle it out for FP3 honours in Jerez

Saturday, 25 September 2021 07:48 GMT

    • The top two in the Championship were also the top three in the final practice session with less than two tenths between the pair

    The final practice session for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship concluded with the top two in the Championship heading the field at the Circuito de Jerez – Angel Nieto with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) heading Free Practice 3 for the Motul Spanish Round ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK).

    Razgatlioglu put in a late lap of 1’39.461s to top the timesheets and while Rea tried to respond in the latter stages, the six-time Champion came up two tenths short and slotted into second place, 0.188s behind Razgatlioglu. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) claimed third place after a strong showing for the Italian rookie, a further tenth back from Rea.

    Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was fourth in the 30-minute session as he headed a trio of Ducati riders between fourth and sixth, with Redding ahead of teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi in fifth, Rinaldi not improving his time in FP3 compared to Friday’s action, with the returning Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) in sixth.

    Nursing a hand injury, Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was in seventh place with Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in eighth. Team HRC continued their strong form into Saturday with Alvaro Bautista in ninth and Leon Haslam rounding out the top ten.

    Lucas Mahias (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was declared unfit for the remainder of the Spanish Round ahead of Free Practice 3 due to a left wrist functional impairment after he completed in Friday’s action and finished in 14th place in the combined classification.

    The top six after three practice sessions, full results here:

    1. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK)

    2. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.188s

    3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.313s

    4. Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.546s

    5. Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) +0.619s

    6. Loris Baz (Team GoEleven) + 0.793s

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