Voltcom Suzuki's Alex Lowes opted to concentrate on finding a good race setup on the third day of World Superbike testing at Jerez but remained the fastest rider so far as Jonathan Rea was just 0.008s shy of his time from yesterday.

Lowes put in a race simulation run early in the day - and his pace shocked team boss Paul Denning - and then opted to test more parts and setup, staying away from the qualifying tyres on which Rea set his fastest lap.

“Today was good on race tyres, set-up and understanding the bike. We worked a lot on old tyres and got more out of the day race-wise than yesterday; we didn’t use a qualifier, we just concentrated on race-tyres and hopefully, fingers-crossed, it will help us by the time we get to Australia," said Lowes.

"We are testing, so some things didn’t work, some did, and we are slowly finding a new base-setting for the bike which is different than I had last year and I think it’s in the right direction. We are working hard and thinking about the races and hopefully I’ll be in a better position come Phillip Island.”