Overnight fastest rider Sylvain Guintoli (Aprilia Racing Team) wasted no time at all in FP3, improving by over a second on his first flying lap before improving yet again on his next circulation. The Frenchman then pitted until the final six minutes, returning to the track but remaining unchallenged at the top of the timesheet.

Behind Guintoli, there were other notable improvements. Davide Giugliano (Ducati Superbike Team) elevated himself to 2nd overall after a string of successively improving laps as did Tom Sykes (Kawasaki Racing Team) who ended the free practice combined in 3rd position.

With the top 25 riders all improving on yesterday’s times, the other top ten riders automatically seeded into Tissot-Superpole 2 are as follows: Marco Melandri (Aprilia Racing Team), Toni Elias (Red Devils Roma Aprilia), Loris Baz (Kawasaki Racing Team), Chaz Davies (Ducati Superbike Team), Jonathan Rea (Pata Honda World Superbike Team), Eugene Laverty (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) and Leon Haslam (Pata Honda World Superbike Team).

Alex Lowes (Voltcom Crescent Suzuki) missed the cut by half a second after an unknown issue caused the rookie to return to the garage. He made it back onto the track but was unable to challenge for a top ten place ending 11th overall finishing ahead of Niccolo Canepa (Althea Racing Ducati) who found his rhythm this morning to head into Tissot-Superpole as the fastest of the EVO category riders.

Fabien Foret (Mahi Team India Kawasaki) grabbed the final place inside the top twenty with a late improving lap ensuring his participation in Superpole 1 later this afternoon.