Magny-Cours World Superbike FP3 results: Alvaro Bautista rockets to top spot
After his big highsiꦛde in FP1, Axel Bassani encountered technical issues at the beginning of final pra൩ctice.
While the Italian made a swift r🌊eturn to pit lane, work on Honda’s new chassis was continuing for Iker Lecuona and Xavi Vierge.
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At the top of ꧅the leaderboard was Alex Lowes who led a Kawasaki 1-2 ahead of Jonathan Rea.
Lowes then went even faster as he set the quickest lap of the weekend to extend his lead by ov൩er two tenths from Garrett Gerloff. 🌳;
Alvaro👍 B♍autista then overhauled the two factory Kawasaki riders as he began to show his true potential. A lap time of 1:36.823s was set by the world champion.
After finding another two tenths on his best time, Bautista then had to play second best to Gerloff who found a blinding 1:36.32𓂃2s.
As the fast laps continued to come in, Michael Rinaldi we🉐nt second a♛head of Rea who also found a heap of time over his previous best effort.
A statement was then made by Bautista as his l🐽ast lap saw him fire his Panigale V4 R to top spot with a sub 1m 36s💃 time.
| 2023 World Superbike Magny-Cours, France - Free Practice (3) Results | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | 1:35.895s |
| 2 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | Bonovo Action BMW | +0.427s |
| 3 | Michael Ruben Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +0.536s |
| 4 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.673s |
| 5 | Scott Redding | GBR | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +0.790s |
| 6 | Danilo Petrucci | ITA | Barni Spark Racing Team | +0.931s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.947s |
| 8 | Remy Gardner | AUS | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +0.970s |
| 9 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +0.992s |
| 10 | Dominique Aegerter | SWI | GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +1.084s |
| 11 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +1.230s |
| 12 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | Pata Yamaha Prometeon WorldSBK | +1.259s |
| 13 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +1.345s |
| 14 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +1.475s |
| 15 | Lorenzo Baldassarri | ITA | GMT94 Yamaha | +1.906s |
| 16 | Michael Van Der Mark | NED | ROKIT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +2.021s |
| 17 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +2.158s |
| 18 | Hannes Soomer | EST | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +2.869s |
| 19 | Isaac Vinales | SPA | TPR by Vinales Racing | +3.034s |
| 20 | Hafizh Syahrin | MAL | PETRONAS MIE Racing HONDA Racing | +3.131s |
| 21 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +3.210s |
| 22 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +3.430s |
| 23 | Bradley Ray | GBR | Motoxracing Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +7.344s |
| 24 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | No Time Set |
Magny-Cours WorldSBK record
Fastest lap - Jonathan Rea GBR Kawasaki Racing Team 1:36.374s
2022 Race Winners
Race 1 - Alvaro Bautista SPA Aruba.it Ducati
Superpole Race - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Race 2 - Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Despite the new chassis, Honda's diffficult weekend continued as Lecuon🌟a and Vierge were unable to finish inside th💞e top ten.
Magny-Cours weekend schedule (UK time)
Friday
Free Practice 1 - 09:30-10:15
Free Practice 2 - 14:00-14:45
Saturday
Free Practice 3 - 08:00-08:30
Superpole - 10:10-10:25
Race 1 - 13:00
Sunday
Warm-up - 08:00-08:15
Superpole Race - 10:00
Race 2 - 14:15
