SBK Jerez, FP3: Bimota stole the show from Ducati – Alex Lowes ahead of Nico Bulega

Following the two free practice sessions on Friday, world champion Nicolo Bulega from the Aruba Ducati factory team topped the combined timesheets with a time of 1:38.155 minutes, putting him a quarter of a second ahead of his team-mate Sam Lowes in second place. As a point of reference: the Italian has held the pole position record since 2025 with a time of 1:36.629, whilst Bulega set the fastest race lap in the Sprint that same year in 1:37.659.

In the 20-minute FP3 session on Saturday morning, starting at 9.35 am, Bulega, in pleasant autumnal conditions with an air temperature of 21 degrees Celsius, set the best time of the weekend so far on his very first flying lap with a time of 1:38.006, and subsequently improved to 1:37.723, putting him 0.832 seconds ahead of the runner-up at that stage!

As the riders pursue very different strategies in FP3 and take to the track on different tyres – in Andalusia, qualifying tyres from the official supplier Pirelli are also used – the times are only of limited significance.

Bulega’s time held up until a minute before the end, when Bimota works rider Alex Lowes catapulted himself to the top of the timesheet. Bulega finished second, 0.033 seconds behind, followed by World Championship third-place finisher Yari Montella, the impressive young Alberto Surra and Lorenzo Baldassarri – all on privateer Ducati Panigale V4Rs.

Xavier Vierge was the fastest Yamaha rider in eighth place, BMW ace Miguel Oliveira finished in 10th, Kawasaki’s lone rider Garrett Gerloff in 11th, and Somkiat Chantra secured the best Honda result in 12th place. Two-time world champion Alvaro Bautista finished in 15th place, whilst Danilo Petrucci (ROKiT BMW) managed only 18th. Both veterans are competing in their final World Superbike races at Jerez – at least for the time being.

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17.10.2026 - 11:05