Saturday morning action at the Cremona Circuit kicked off and the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship remains unpredictable heading into the Tissot Superpole session. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) claimed top spot as he set the first 1’28s lap of the Acerbis Italian Round, beating Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) by almost three tenths of a second.

There was a flurry of fast laps in the second half of the 20-minute Free Practice 3 session, but ‘The Maniac’ left it late to set his 1’28.779s to move into top spot. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) claimed second place after lapping 0.291s slower than the #29 but claimed top BMW honours on Saturday morning. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) had briefly gone to the top of the standings but was demoted to third, eventually claiming P3 with a 1’29.100s.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) finished half-a-second off the pace as he continued to adjust to the newly homologated R1 complete with wings, with ‘Loka’ finishing ahead of two Ducati riders. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) with teammate Nicolo Bulega, looking to gain more points on the absent Toprak Razgatlioglu (ROKiT BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), was sixth. Just 0.020s separated the two Ducati stars.

Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) finished in seventh place with a 1’29.383s with the Brit less than a tenth clear of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) in eighth place. After their on-track coming together in FP2 yesterday – for which both received a three-place grid drop for slow riding on the racing line – Petrucci and Remy Gardner (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) couldn’t be separated on the timesheets, with the #87 finishing in ninth and a tenth away from ‘Petrux’. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) completed a strong start to Saturday with Honda as he rounded out the top ten.

The top six from WorldSBK FP3, full results here:

1. Andrea Iannone (Team GoEleven) 1’28.779s

2. Garrett Gerloff (Bonovo Action BMW) +0.291s

3. Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) +0.321s

4. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Prometeon Yamaha) +0.455s

5. Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +0.476s

6. Nicolo Bulega (Aruba.it Racing - Ducati) +0.496s

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