WorldSBK Donington Park, Great Britain - Free Practice Results (3)

Six-time WorldSBK champion Jonathan Rea was utterly dominant during this morning’s wet WorldSBK FP3 at Donington Park, while Kawasaki team-mate Alex Lowes was second fastest - +1.181s back.

Track conditions took a turn for the worse overnight following a dry FP1 and FP2. The rain persisted into the session as lap times were 14 seconds slower than yesterday.

Day-one pacesetter Garrett Gerloff went through the gravel at Redgate during the early stages, before Jonas Folger suffered a crash shortly after at turn eight. Scott Redding was the only other rider to take a tumble which came at the Melbourne loop late on.  

Not known for his wet weather riding, Toprak Razgatlioglu could only manage eighth place, while fellow race winner at Misano, Michael Rinaldi was only 16th.

Friday Free Practice

Day-one of WorldSBK free practice at Donington Park belongs to circuit debutant Gerloff. 

The American’s stunning lap of 1:27.524 was over three tenths quicker than top two in the championship Rea and Razgatlioglu.

Rea and Alex Lowes were the early pace-setters for Kawasaki, before Razgatlioglu took over top spot with 20 minutes remaining. 

As was the case in FP1, Tom Sykes’ session began with a second crash of the day. Razgatlioglu then had a huge moment on the brakes heading into turn 12, but was able to stay aboard his Yamaha R1 after running through the grass. 

Tito Rabat had an excursion through the gravel at turn eight as he got reacquainted with the British circuit - last visit to Donington Park was 2009. 

Free Practice One

Fresh off a new two-year WorldSBK contract extension with Pata Yamaha, Razgatlioglu was second fastest behind Rea after provisionally topping FP1.

After being stuck in pit lane for 15 minutes due to a technical issue, Razgatlioglu eventually headed out and was immediately on the pace. The 24 year-old went over a tenth quicker than Rea on his final lap, however, the Yamaha rider's time was deleted for exceeding track limits once the session was over. 

It means a time of 1:27.841s was good enough for Rea to retain top spot - only man under the 1m 28s barrier.

Nine-time WorldSBK race winner at Donington Park, Sykes, suffered a cold tyre crash less than five minutes in at the Melbourne Loop. However, Sykes remounted to set some blistering laps at the front of the field.

Sykes was fastest for most of the session, before Rea took over with a quarter of FP1 remaining.  

More lap times were deleted after the session finished, as Scott Redding who was fourth fastest for Aruba.it Ducati was instead relegated to sixth, behind team-mate Rinaldi and Gerloff who claimed fifth.

British Superstock rider Luke Mossey is replacing Samuele Cavalieri at Pedercini Kawasaki after the Italian rider and team decided to end their partnership. Mossey finished FP1 17th fastest.