Gordon Ritchie | October 23, 2022
Sunday
WorldSBK Race Two
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won his second full distance WorldSBK race at San Juan Villicum after his team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) had also led for a time.
Bautista played a patient game but one he was in the front he set a pace that no-one, not even a motivated Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) could muster.
The current world champion would end up in second place after another fighting performance but he would leave round ten of 12 with an 82 point deficit to Bautista.
He was 3.389 seconds behind Bautista in the final race.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) got dropped down to sixth at one stage and had to battle back into contention for the podium places.
He was eventually third, after passing his potent team-mate Alex Lowes late in the race.
Rinaldi won his personal race-within-a-race to take fifth place, with HRC team-mates Xavi Vierge and Iker Lecuona right behind him in sixth and seventh places, respectively.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was a lonely eighth at the flag, with BMW Motorrad team-mates Scott Redding and Michael van der Mark completing the top ten.
In the championship after ten rounds and 30 races, Bautista has cracked the 500 barrier with his new total of 507 points, Razgatlioglu has 425, Rea 409, Rinaldi 260 and Lowes, up to fifth place, with 217.
Next Round is at Mandalika, in Indonesia, between 11-13 November.
2022 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Race Two
1 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Duc) |
|
2 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
+3.389s |
3 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+9.784s |
4 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+11.650s |
5 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+15.656s |
WorldSSP Race Two
A flurry of early crashes in the mid pack did not affect the leaders of Race Two, with Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Ducati) looking determined up front, with Raffaele De Rosa (Ducati Orelac Racing VerdNatura), Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) and Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) right behind.
De Rosa took the lead, in a race that seemed slower than Race One, especially under hot air temperatures and an even greasier track surface.
He gained a gap out front but was to fall by mid-race distance, leaving a three rider leading group containing Balda, Caricasulo and Aegerter.
With three laps to go Aegerter passed for the lead when Balda ran wide. The tall Italian re-passed and looked to have it all under control until an inside block pass from Aegerter into the final hairpin saw him take the win and Baldassarri pushed out wide, losing even second place to the following Caricasulo.
Behind the podium places Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse F3 800 RR) was fourth, Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph Street Triple RS) fifth and Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) sixth.
Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) was top Kawasaki rider in seventh place, leading home Nicolo Beluga (Aruba Racing Ducati), Andy Verdoia (GMT94 Yamaha) and Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki), with the latter having to do a long lap penalty.
Bradley Smith (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) was an early faller.
Tom Booth-Amos (Motozoo Racing By Puccetti Kawasaki) finished 13th, while Oliver Bayliss (Barni Spark Racing Team Ducati) was another faller and went to the medical centre for checks.
In the championship Aegerter has a 424 points, Baldassarri 352 (a disadvantage of 72 points to the lead), Oncu has 216 and Bulega 190.
2022 Argentinian WorldSSP Results—Race Two
1 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Federico Caricasulo |
(Duc) |
+0.667s |
3 |
Lorenzo Baldassarri |
(Yam) |
+0.839s |
4 |
Niki Tuuli |
(MV) |
+2.240s |
5 |
Stefano Manzi |
(Tri) |
+4.317s |
WorldSBK Superpole Race
Torak Razgatlioglu lined up for the Superpole race from pole position and took the early lead, determined to make up for his Saturday fall and almost no-points score. He fought for the early lead with Jonathan Rea intially, with Alvaro Bautista third.
The true 202 triumvirate of factory powers pulled a gap on the rest with Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Alex Lowes and Iker Lecuona with those three creating their own off-podium fight.
Rea led confidently but ran on at T1 on lap six, recovering to slot in behind Bautista in third place. He lost around three seconds.
Razgatlioglu and Bautista had a duel from then on, with some close passing into T8 and T9.
It would build up into a superbly tense and intense final few laps lap, as Bautista tried to flee but the Yamaha rider came back at him every time he passed or tried to until the third to last lap.
As Rea closed in on the top two he set a new lap record of 1’37.277.
On the last lap a pass on Raz at the end of the back straight from Bautista into T8 was immediately undone and Toprak squeezed past at the very site of his Saturday crash, he would go on to win the thrilling ten lapper.
Rea almost got past Bautista too, but it ended up Razgatlioglu, Bautista and Rea, all covered by just 0.856 seconds.
Behind the podium trio Rinaldi was fourth, Lowes fifth and Lecuona sixth. Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) was a lone seventh, with Xavi Vierge (HRC Honda) on an SCQ rear tyre and eighth.
Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW) and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) completed the top ten position in a short and pleasantly sharp Superpole race.
2022 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Superpole Race
1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Duc) |
+0.613s |
3 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+0.856s |
4 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+4.357s |
5 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+5.062s |
Saturday
WorldSBK Race One
Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) won the opening San Juan Villicum race by over five seconds after Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) crashed out at T9 on lap one while trying to pass Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) on the inside of the double left-hander.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) would eventually win a long tussle with Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) for second place.
Bautista dropped to fourth as he took avoiding action on lap one and once the dust had settled Bassani was in the lead, with Rea second and Iker Lecuona (HRC Honda) third.
Razgatlioglu got going again, but was almost 30 seconds back on the leaders
Bautista moved into third place at the expense of Lecuona, with Rea his immediate target with 17 laps to go.
Bautista passed Rea with 15 laps to go, not on the long back straight but on a short straight in the infield.
Both Bautista and Rea passed Bassani with 14 laps to go, Rea aggressively so. Bassani re-passed the very next lap, holding up Rea as Bautista made his escape.
Rea tried to get back into second place, but Bassani was able to come right back to him and re-pass, leading Rea for much of the race.
Rea made a final decisive move near the end of lap 18, passed the Italian rider into T1 of lap 19, and immediately Rea made a small gap to try and keep the much faster Ducati behind him on the infield sections.
The top three was settled at that point, with the fading Lecuona fourth, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fifth and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) sixth. Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) placed seventh and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) eighth.
Xavi Vierge (HRC Honda) placed ninth and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was tenth.
Razgatlioglu scored a point for 15th place but he lost 24 points in the championship fight to leader and race winner Bautista. With two more Villicum races to run Bautista has 473 points, Razgatlioglu 393 and Rea 386.
2022 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Race One
1 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Duc) |
|
2 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+5.141s |
3 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+6.689s |
4 |
Iker Lecuona |
(Hon) |
+11.917s |
5 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+13.882s |
WorldSSP Race One
On a track surface that reached 50°C Raffaele De Rosa (Ducati Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and early leader Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing Ducati) made a break on the rest that almost lasted the full race.
Championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) started to claw them back at an impressive pace, and eventually passed De Rosa on the very last lap, leaving De Rosa just shy of a second career race win – and what would have been the first ‘Next Generation’ win for Ducati. He did take away the new lap record, set on lap 10, of 1’41.693.
Caricasulo was third, after an agonizing run-on with two laps to go and Aegerter right on his heels, ready to pass with ease.
Lowly 14th place qualifer Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) passed the slowing Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse F3 800 RR) to go into fifth place, and then he seized the chance to go fourth as Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) slowed his pace dramatically.
Tuuli would finish behind Öncü in fifth place, with an up-and-down Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) sixth.
Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph Street Triple RS) was in a podium place until passed by Aegerter and he then dropped more places when running wide. He would eventually finish seventh overall, with Yari Montella (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) eighth.
Baldassari would end up a disappointed ninth, with Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph Street Triple RS) the final top ten finisher. Nicolo Beluga (Aruba Racing Ducati) was only 11th.
A near thing for the first Ducati win in the contemporary WorldSSP era, but once again Aegerter and the Ten Kate Yamaha had too much for them all.
2022 Argentinian WorldSSP Results—Race One
1 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
|
2 |
Raffaele De Rosa |
(Duc) |
+0.292s |
3 |
Federico Caricasulo |
(Duc) |
+2.497s |
4 |
Can Oncu |
(Kaw) |
+6.983s |
5 |
Niki Tuuli |
(MV) |
+9.240s |
Friday
WorldSBK
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took the top Friday time in FP1 but due to extreme track temperatures over 120° in FP2 he would not improve on that in the afternoon. His morning best of 1’37.511 was still enough to take the fastest time of the first day overall.
The start of FP2 was delayed for reasons as yet unspecified.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) posted his best time in the afternoon to go second quickest overall, as Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) made it a big three top three on the opening day in Argentina.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was again in confident form, going fourth fastest. Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) completed the top five places after the first two track sessions at a hot and breezy Villicum circuit.
Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) was top Independent rider in sixth place, heading off the best Honda of Iker Lecuona (HRC).
Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was top BMW rider in eighth place overall, ahead of fellow ‘M’ riders Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) and Loris Baz (Bonovo Action BMW). Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) was 11th, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) 12th.
Xavi Fores (Barni Spark Racing Ducati) was 17th on the first day of his WorldSBK return.
2022 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Friday
1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
1:37.511s |
2 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.196s |
3 |
Alvaro Bautista |
(Duc) |
+ 0.475s |
4 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.557s |
5 |
Andrea Locatelli |
(Yam) |
+ 0.571s |
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