Red Devils Aprilia’s Jordi Torres produced a sensational performance in the third World Supebrike free practice at Misano as he delivered a stunning 1’34.984 to hold off championship leader Jonathan Rea.
Rea was languishing for much of the proceedings but the Ulsterman made found some pace towards the end of the session and his 1’35.111 was enough to split the Aprilias of Torres, Leon Haslam and Max Biaggi, who had dominated much of the morning.
Few found a way past Biaggi’s time early on but as the practice session progressed the Ducati of Chaz Davies began eating into the time, and just as Haslam began his own assault on Biaggi’s efforts, team-mate Torres smashed the time with a 1’35.304.
As proceedings came to a close Torres tightened his grip at the top of the timesheets with a 1’34.984 and Haslam could only find a 1’35.356, which was good enough for third after Rea’s late surge.
Rea’s team-mate and championship second-placed man Tom Sykes had a disappointing session as he was unable to make any inroads on his time from yesterday and the Yorkshireman will now go into Superpole One this afternoon after finishing 11th in the session.
Alex Lowes gave Crescent Suzuki a fine result during third practice as the 24-year-old was able to place his GSX-R1000 fifth, just behind Biaggi. Lowes’ team-mate Randy DePuniet just about scraped into Superpole One in 20th place, as a 1’36.674 continued his poor form.
There were four Ducatis in the top ten as Chaz Davies - impressive early in the session - secured sixth with a time of 1’35.435, ahead of his Aruba.it team-mates Michele Pirro, Davide Giugliano and Althea Racing’s Matteo Baiocco.
Pirro was replacing the injured Luca Scassa, who was set to appear at Misano as a wildcard, but unfortunately the former World Supersport man crashed yesterday and Pirro was drafted in overnight, making his performance all the more impressive.
Rounding out the top ten was the Pata Honda of Sylvain Guintoli, as his team-mate Michael Van Der Mark finished a lowly 17th and the Dutch rookie will now join Sykes, wildcard Markus Reiterberger, Leon Camier, who walked away from big crash at turn ten which brought out the red flags, and DePuniet in a competitive first Superpole session later this afternoon.
