Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was the fastest rider in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship as Saturday’s action got underway with Free Practice 3. His lap time was the fastest of the 2024 Pirelli Catalunya Round so far as the #77 showed his hand at the end of the 20-minute session, denying Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) top spot after he had been there throughout FP3 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Riders headed out as soon as the green lights went on with Petrucci surging to P1 in the early stages, posting a 1’40.816s to set the fastest lap of the weekend before it was beaten in the closing stages. After seemingly making a breakthrough with softer tyres in the Supported Test, ‘Petrux’ has been fast across the weekend so far and seems to be in contention for success. His time looked like it would be good enough for first, but a late lap from Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) moved him to P1. He set a 1’40.695s to claim top spot, 0.121s ahead of Petrucci while Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) was third. ‘Loka’ opted to sit in the box for the first six and a half minutes before taking to the track.

Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) followed a similar plan, going out later in the session and setting his best time – a 1’40.989s – towards the end of the 20-minute session. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) claimed fifth, exactly four tenths back from Aegerter, with Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) the lead BMW rider in sixth.

Friday pacesetter Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) was seventh and the highest-placed rider in FP3 to not improve compared to yesterday’s times. He was a tenth ahead of Michael van der Mark (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in eighth, with two BMWs in the top ten, while Philipp Oettl (GMT94 Yamaha) made a massive step to claim ninth on Saturday morning. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) completed the top ten with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 11^th after a strong FP2. Like his teammate, the #1 didn’t improve his lap time in FP3.

The top six from FP3, full results here:

1. Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) 1’40.695s

2. Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) +0.121s

3. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.263s

4. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.294s

5. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) +0.400s

6. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.410s

Don’t miss the Tissot Superpole session at 11:00 Local Time (UTC+1) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!