WSBK Superbike San Juan FP2: Jonathan Rea 5th after a fall, Toprak Razgatlıoğlu stays in the lead

The Turkish driver retained the lead at the end of the second free practice session of the day, ahead of Scott Redding and Alex Lowes.

He couldn't have dreamed of a better way to start the Argentinian round of the calendar! Toprak Razgatlioglu indeed confirmed to be the dominant force this Friday on the San Juan de Villicum circuit, at the foot of the Andes. The Turkish driver was the fastest at the end of the two free practice sessions organized in Argentina today, keeping his opponents at a good distance.

Jonathan Rea, for his part, had a difficult FP2 to say the least, marked by a fall in the first quarter of an hour in turn 6, after losing the front. His machine destroyed, the Northern Irishman did not have the opportunity to return to the track and will therefore miss significant running time as the second day of competition looms with the holding of the Superpole and the Race 1.

 

 

A situation far from ideal as the Kawasaki rider can no longer afford to lose points compared to Razgatlioglu. The defending champion, who is 24 units behind his Turkish rival in the championship, even saw his teammate Alex Lowes finish the session ahead of him, although the latter is still weakened by a stubborn injury to his right wrist since the contested round. in Catalonia a month ago.

Summary of the results of the 2019 edition:

WSBK Superbike San Juan	October 2019	October 2021
FP1	1'45.191 Álvaro Bautista	1'38.524 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
FP2	1'43.614 Álvaro Bautista	1'37.872 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu
FP3	1'39.651 Toprak Razgatlioglu
Super poles	1'40.771 Álvaro Bautista
Race 1	Bautista, Rea, Razgatlıoğlu
Warm up	1'37.784 Jonathan Rea
Superpole race	Rea, Bautista, Razgatlıoğlu
Race 2	Rea, Davies, Razgatlıoğlu
All time lap record	1'37.784 Jonathan Rea

The Ducatis in the game

But beyond his garage neighbor whose pace over the length of a race is still difficult to predict, it is also the Ducati of Scott Redding and Michael Ruben Rinaldi who could represent a big stone in Rea's shoe this weekend.

Redding indeed ended this first day with the second time, thus confirming his very good end to the season while he only has two rounds left to run with the Borgo Panigale mark. Rinaldi also disrupts the game between Rea and Razgatlıoğlu, the Italian who finished FP2 in fourth place.

 

Lack of running for Rea

So here is Rea who ends this first day in fifth place with a running deficit which will be all the more detrimental as the Superbike did not go to San Juan last year due to the health crisis. The Briton is ahead of Chaz Davies, who is keen to do well this weekend as his days are numbered in the category, with the Welshman drawing a veil over his career at the end of the season.

Alex Bassani, fighting for the status of best independent driver against Garrett Gerloff (a fight largely to the advantage of the American however, the latter having 24 points ahead of the Italian), finished the day in seventh place ahead of his compatriot Andrea Locatelli and Gerloff. Tenth place goes to Leon Haslam, who today took over his teammate Álvaro Bautista in the HRC. Further down the hierarchy, we find Christophe Ponsson in 19th place.

 

Superbike San Juan – FP2:

Classification credit: WorldSBK.com