Under sunny skies at the Donington Park circuit in the United Kingdom, FP3 for the Prosecco DOC UK Round and the 2022 MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship ignited Saturday action. In what was an action-packed 30-minute session to start the first of two race days. Leading the way with a stunning lap time of a 1’26.877, Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) looks to be back in the mix and ready to fight all the way in a bid to return to the Donington Park podium.

Gerloff was in mighty form from the start at the circuit at which he took his last WorldSBK podium; the American improved throughout the session to set the fastest lap time of the weekend so far, despite making two big saves – one at Turn 11 and the other at Turn 2. He led an Independent 1-2 with Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) the next rider on the timesheets. The Frenchman, who is battling for top Independent honours overall, will hope his form can continue into Superpole. Reigning World Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) was third, just under half a second from Gerloff, whilst fastest on Friday Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was fourth, a place ahead of his teammate Alex Lowes.

Despite a big run-off down the Craner Curves, Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) took sixth place and was first Honda on the timesheets, although the biggest headline was that there were no Ducatis inside the top six. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was seventh, although he did improve his time in comparison to Friday. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was a solid eighth and along with Rea, they were the only riders who didn’t improve their times from Friday. Philipp Oettl (Team Goeleven) was ninth ahead of factory Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who completed the top ten.

Outside of the top ten, it was a disappointing morning from Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), who continues to have a torrid time at Donington Park in 13^th. On the contrary, it was a strong session from Leandro Mercado (MIE Racing Honda Team), who was 14^th, whilst in 16^th, Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) will hope for more and suffered a crash at Turn 1. Wildcards Tarran Mackenzie (McAMS Yamaha) and Peter Hickman (FHO Racing) were 17^th and 19^th respectively.

Top six after WorldSBK FP3, full results here:

1. Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’26.877s

2. Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.324s

3. Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) +0.494s

4. Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.530s

5. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) +0.585s

6. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.609s

Watch all the action from Donington Park from this year and times before with the WorldSBK VideoPass!