Tom Sykes leads the way at Donington

Kawasaki's Tom Sykes edged his way to the top of the timesheets in the third free practice session as the Superbike World Championship arrived in Great Britain.

The 29-year-old - third in the riders' standings - posted a time of one minute and 28.172 seconds - just a tenth of a second off his own race lap record set in 2013.

The lap placed Sykes 0.111 seconds ahead of his nearest rivals, with Davide Giugliano going second fastest, although the Aruba.it Racing Ducati rider crashed with three minutes left on the clock.

Championship leader Jonathan Rea finished third on his Kawasaki, ahead of Leon Haslam, who appeared to have recovered from a rib injury sustained at Imola last time out.

Aruba.it Racing's Chaz Davies and Alex Lowes of Voltcom Crescent Suzuki rounded off the top six