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Bautista responds from Friday falls immediately as he tops FP3 ahead of Locatelli and Sam Lowes

Saturday, 3 May 2025 07:34 GMT

    • The Spanish rider bounced back from his three Friday crashes at Cremona to top Saturday’s first session

    Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) appears to have got Friday’s woes out of his system already in the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship after he topped Free Practice 3 at the Cremona Circuit. The Spanish rider claimed P1 by more than a tenth ahead of his rivals during the Acerbis Italian Round as he looked to shake off his multiple crashes on Friday as soon as he possibly could and did so in the perfect fashion.

    Bautista had a tricky Friday after three crashes, but he seemed to have got that out of his system on Saturday morning as he topped Free Practice 3 with a 1’28.439s, finishing 0.150s clear of home hero Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) in second place after ‘Loka’ provisionally went P1 before Bautista demoted him. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) continued his impressive form in 2025 with third place, only 0.164s off the pace, as he looks to add more rostrums to his name.

    Friday’s fastest rider, Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati), could only manage fourth in FP3 with a 1’28.720s as he lapped almost three tenths off the pace, finishing ahead of Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) in fifth. Gardner posted a 1’28.757s and lapped only 0.001s quicker than reigning Champion Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in sixth.

    Iker Lecuona (Honda HRC) continued to show good pace for Honda as he claimed seventh place after posting a 1’28.884s, ahead of 2024 hat-trick hero Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in ninth with just 0.013s between the two riders. Andrea Iannone (Team Pata GoEleven) claimed ninth despite a trip through the gravel in the 20-minute session while Dominique Aegerter (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had his best showing of the weekend so far with P10.

    The top six from WorldSBK FP3, full results here:

    1. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) 1’28.439s

    2. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Maxus Yamaha) +0.150s

    3. Sam Lowes (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) +0.164s

    4. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +0.281s

    5. Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) +0.318s

    6. Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) +0.319s

    Next up, Superpole! Watch the hot lap action from 11:00 Local Time (UTC+2) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!