WorldSBK title contenders Chaz Davies and Jonathan Rea set the exact same time in the third and final practice session at Imola, both circulating at 1’46.686 this afternoon to end the day four-tenths ahead of Marco Melandri.
Rea set his time earlier in the 45-minute session, taking top spot away from Davies who had bounced into the lead with a 1’46.821 but after losing time in the last sector on a couple of laps, Davies managed to hold his momentum and equal the reigning champion.
Melandri’s best was a 1’47.126 and he had fellow Italian Lorenzo Savadori for company with the Milwaukee Aprilia man setting a 1’47.396. Michael van der Mark jumped into an automatic qualifying two spot late on and then proceeded to get involved in some protracted handbags with Jordi Torres.
Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes relied on his time from second practice to keep a Q2 spot as he wasn’t able to improve. Leon Haslam bounced into the top eight with a 1’47.563 and he has Torres for company.
Michael Rinaldi bagged the final automatic Q2 spot so Eugene Laverty and Alex Lowes, who had a lap good enough for fifth place cancelled for exceeding track limits at Variante Basa, will scrap it out in Q1.
