Superbike Catalunya FP3: Aegerter takes the lead

Danilo Petrucci was very fast during the third and final free practice session of the Superbike round in Catalonia, but Dominique Aegerter managed to get the better of him during his final attempt at a fast lap.

Danilo Petrucci carried out a super race simulation during the third and final Superbike free practice session at Montmelo: ten laps at a pace which oscillated between 1'40 and 1'41", using the SCQ tire specification which will be available in the sprint race this Sunday (11:00 a.m.), and during today's qualifying (11:10 a.m.).

Same solution for the Swiss Dominique Aegerter who won at the very end of the session thanks to a time of 1'40″695, giving new hope to Yamaha. The YZF-R1 catapulted three riders to the top four positions, with Andrea Locatelli et Remy gardner on your mind. Among other things, the native of Bergamo was also faster than Jonathan Rhea on this occasion, who still has difficulty finding the key to the problem: eleventh

Different configurations

The final ranking of this session can be misleading because it is clear that the drivers and teams followed different paths. Some have got their hands on SCQ qualifying tires, with the aim of preparing for qualifying which will have its weight in the equation for the weekend.

The same specification, by regulation, can also be used for sprint racing: only four games are available per machine. Others, however, continued to carry out checks in preparation for today's long race, where the options will be two SCXs (the standard and the new C0900) or the medium SC0.

Beware of degradation

On this circuit with little grip, tire management is crucial. Looking at Friday's simulations, we can see how some drivers went into a drastic slump after a certain number of laps.

Jonathan Rhea, for example, was one of the few to do the simulation over 20 passes, as in the race: in the last four laps, he slowed down to run in 1'44", three seconds less than the ideal of 1'41". Nicholas Bulega seems to be the one who is best placed of all, in FP3 Toprak Razgatlioglu also maintained an excellent pace, able to simulate a medium-high pace of 1'41", but only completing ten passes. It's too early to know whether BMW will have solved the age-old problems of early degradation. We will find out at 14 p.m. during Superbike Race 1.

The ranking of Superbike FP3s in Catalonia: