It was a case of continuing where he left off for Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) as he started Saturday as he ended Friday: on top of the timesheets at the Misano World Circuit “Marco Simoncelli”. Making his first appearance in Italy on the factory Ducati machine in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship, Rinaldi topped the times in Free Practice 3 by over six tenths ahead of the Pirelli Made in Italy Emilia-Romagna Round.

The order has been mixed up throughout the weekend, but Rinaldi has been the rider to beat after topping the combined times on Friday and continuing that into Saturday, as he led teammate Scott Redding in Free Practice 3 as the British rider found almost a second between the two sessions.  Turkish sensation Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) was third as he continued his strong pace at Misano.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) headed teammate Jonathan Rea in fourth and fifth place respectively, with just two thousandths of a second separating the KRT duo. They finished around a tenth ahead of American Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) who rounded out the top sixth.

Eugene Laverty (RC Squadra Corse) finished in seventh; the Irish rider finding 1.2s between his fastest lap on Friday and Saturday although he did have a crash with around six minutes to go in the session at Turn 10 which meant the session was Red Flagged. Laverty was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash.

Laverty’s former teammate, Tom Sykes (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK) finished FP3 in eighth place with Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) once again securing a top ten spot with ninth place, ahead of fellow Italian rider Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK); the Pata Yamaha rider finding time in Saturday’s session.

The top six following Free Practice 3 at Misano, full results here:

1.              Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 1'34.018s

2.              Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) + 0.308s

3.              Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX WorldSBK) +0.368s

4.              Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.596s

5.              Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.621s

6.              Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) + 0.687s

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