Andrea Bulega once again proved himself as the only rider to break the 1:28 mark in Free Practice 3 at Phillip Island on Saturday (22/2/2025), although Toprak Razgatlioglu is closing the gap. The Aruba.it Ducati rider clocked 1:28.903, pushing his Panigale V4R to 1:28.936 within the first 20 minutes.
While the reigning WSBK champion sits in second place with a 0.2-second gap. Alvaro Bautista showed improvement by moving up to third place after a maneuver in the final lap. The Aruba.it Ducati rider posted a time of 1:29.128. With a longer practice session, he could have overtaken Razgatlioglu as they were separated by only 0.022 seconds.
Ducati seems to be getting stronger with the presence of Danilo Petrucci (Barni Spark Racing Team) and Andrea Iannone (Team Pata Go Eleven) in the top five. Both were trailing 0.3 seconds and 0.4 seconds behind Bulega. Besides Razgatlioglu, only Alex Lowes (Bimota by Kawasaki Racing Team) could keep up with the Ducati riders. He clocked a time of 1:29.371, just 0.041 seconds behind Sam Lowes, his brother, who also rides the Panigale V4R.
Local hero Remy Gardner emerged as the fastest Yamaha rider, securing ninth place with a time of 1:29.565. The Moto2 champion positioned himself between Scott Redding, representing MGM Bonovo Racing and also a Ducati customer, and Axel Bassani of Bimota.
