SBK | Prosecco DOC UK Round, Free Practice 3: Jonathan Rea takes the lead again

The Kawasaki Racing Team also dominates the third free practice session, the last valid for direct access to tomorrow's Tissot-Superpole 2, of the sixth round of the Superbike World Championship being held at Donington Park, England.

This time it is Jonathan Rea who prevails at the end of the session over teammate Tom Sykes: the two who have exchanged the top of the timesheets throughout the day will enter the race as great favorites and barring sensational reversals or errors there do not appear to be any rivals on the horizon.
However, racing is often unpredictable, especially on a track like Donington: Chaz Davies (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Xavi Fores (Barni Racing Team) know this well and will have to go through Superpole 1 due to crashes.

Lorenzo Savadori (Milwaukee Aprilia) still shines in free practice: the Italian achieved an excellent third place which he hopes to translate tomorrow into a good qualifying and above all a good race, the team's Achilles' heel this season.

Behind him we find Alex Lowes (Pata Yamaha Official WorldSBK Team) who confirmed his good form, and his enthusiasm in racing at home, with the fourth fastest time ahead of Eugene Lavertu (Milwaukee Aprilia), in a clear recovery after two not brilliant shifts.

Van der Mark recovered quickly from his crash in the early stages and finished sixth fastest, ahead of Leon Haslam (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), a wildcard again this weekend after Imola, and Loris Baz (GULF Althea BMW Racing Team).

Bradley Ray (Buildbase Suzuki), who made his debut at Donington this weekend, confirmed his high expectations by finishing in ninth position: an impressive result for the young English talent considering he did not take part in FP1.

Closing out the top 10 is Marco Melandri (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati), who grabbed position at the last by beating Luke Mossey (Team Pedercini Racing) by just 4 thousandths: the rookie was the author of an incredible performance, if you consider that he only found out he would be racing at Donington yesterday.

Leon Camier will also have to pass through Tissot-Superpole1: however, the Honda rider will have to undergo a medical examination tomorrow morning before the fourth free practice session to be fit to race, having not yet fully recovered from the injury suffered in Aragon.

The next appointments are tomorrow at 11am with the Tissot-Superpole and at 45pm with the start of Race14.

Below are the times recorded after the three free practice sessions of the Prosecco DOC UK Round, valid for determining access to the two heats of Tissot-Superpole.

1.Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR 1m 28.003s
2. Tom Sykes GBR Kawasaki Racing ZX-10RR 1m 28.207s
3. Lorenzo Savadori ITA Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 28.540s
4. Alex Lowes GBR PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 1m 28.567s
5. Eugene Laverty IRE Milwaukee Aprilia RSV4 1m 28.650s
6. Michael van der Mark NED PATA Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 28.768s
7. Leon Haslam GBR Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 28.841s
8. Loris Baz FRA Althea BMW S1000RR 1m 29.242s
9. Bradley Ray GBR Buildbase Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 29.257s
10. Marco Melandri ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R 1m 29.275s
11. Luke Mossey GBR Team Pedercini Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 29.279s
12. Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Puccetti Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 29.347s
13. Leon Camier GBR Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 29.417s
14. Niccolo Canepa ITA PATA Crescent Yamaha R1 1m 29.616s
15. Leandro Mercado ARG Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 29.708s
16. Chaz Davies GBR Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R 1m 29.719s
17. PJ Jacobsen USA TripleM Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 30.087s
18. Mason Law GBR Team WD-40 Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 30.277s
19. Jake Gagne USA Red Bull Honda CBR1000RR SP2 1m 30.377s
20. Roman Ramos ESP Team GoEleven Kawasaki ZX-10RR 1m 30.460s
21. Gino Rea GBR OMG Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000 1m 30.647s
22. Ondrej Jezek CZE Guandalini Yamaha YZF-R1 1m 30.889s
23. Xavi Fores ESP Barni Ducati Panigale R 1m 30.925s
24. Michael Ruben Rinaldi ITA Aruba.it Racing Ducati Panigale R 1m 31.558s
25. Jordi Torres ESP MV Agusta 1000 F4 1m 42.352s*

Best time taken from FP2