WSBK 2022 Assen Free Practice 3 results

Results from free practice three at Assen, round two of the 2022 World Superbike championship.

Toprak Razgatlioglu heads into Assen World Superbike qualifying fastest after topping FP3 from rookies Iker Lecuona and Philipp Oettl.

Jonathan Rea was one of the last riders to exit pit lane as cooler conditions greeted riders on the first of two Assen World Superbike race days.

A potential preview to race one, reigning world champion Razgatlioglu was following Michael Rinaldi closely to begin FP3.

Attempting to put his FP2 crash behind him, Redding solidified his decent start to the weekend by putting his M 1000 RR BMW in fifth. That soon became sixth when Alex Lowes bolted to the top of the leaderboard, only for team-mate Rea to bump him back down to P2.

As grip continued to improve, championship leader Bautista reassured his position as the rider to beat by going -0.037s quicker than Rea.

With most of his rivals in pit lane, Bautista remained out on-track as preparation for the race took shape. The Spaniard remained fastest on a time of 1:34.922s.

Continuing his stunning weekend aboard the 2022 CBR1000RR-R, Lecuona momentarily went second fastest – +0.008s down on Bautista, however, the Spaniard’s lap was deleted due to exceeding track limits.

On his next effort the former MotoGP rider made up for his previous transgression by going fastest by nearly two tenths.

One rider who wasn’t able to challenge for top spot was Rinaldi as a mechanical problem cut short his FP3.

With qualifying simulations underway, Garrett Gerloff and Oettl both jumped into the top five, with the latter going second.

Eugene Laverty missed free practice two after a big highside during the opening Assen World Superbike practice left the Irishman with significant swelling to his right forearm. Laverty did manage to return for FP3, albeit in limited fashion.

Trying to push on after losing top spot to Razgatlioglu, Lecuona suffered his second fall of the weekend.

Round two of the 2022 World Superbike championship is taking place without Belgian rider Loris Cresson, as Pedercini Kawasaki announced an immediate split before the weekend due to a failure to fulfil financial agreements on Cresson’s side.

Cresson, who was initially signed through to the end of 2022, was set for a second full season in Superbikes before the termination of his contract on Wednesday.

It means BSB rider Leon Haslam, who was already scheduled to take part in four wildcard rounds with the team this season was drafted in for FP1 and thus, the remainder of the Assen event. Haslam and Pedercini have already agreed to increase his participation in the 2022 championship, but exactly how many rounds Haslam will do is yet to be confirmed.

Following confirmation of the agreed deal for this weekend, Haslam said: “I have fond memories of Assen over the years and so when the opportunity arose to race with TPR Team Pedercini in one additional race it was easy to say yes.

“I have ridden with the team before and achieved a top five result in Qatar and I know how they work.

“It will be a tough ask coming straight into round two with no testing on the bike and the championship being so strong this year but knowing that we will also race together in four other races after this I am confident that we can gain a lot of valuable information and have a positive weekend together.”