The Turkish driver performed flawlessly during the various free practice sessions which took place on the San Juan de Villicum circuit, with the best time again at the end of FP3 ahead of Scott Redding and Jonathan Rea.
As usual, the third free practice session was an opportunity for the drivers to perfect their settings and build momentum in preparation for the Superpole which will be held in a few dozen minutes.
After the clear domination displayed yesterday by Toprak Razgatlıoğlu, the Turkish pilot's opponents tried to challenge this hegemony, which was not without a few accidents, like that of Scott Redding, who lost the before his Ducati at the start of the session in turn 13.
The latter's teammate, Michael Ruben Rinaldi, enjoyed better success by temporarily leading the hierarchy. The Italian driver, who made the big attack, nevertheless also came very close to disaster by avoiding a highside at the last minute as he approached turn 15. He was finally saved by a passage through the gravel without great consequence.
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 Razgatlıoğlu | 1'37.239 Toprak Razgatlıoğlu |
| 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 |
Flawless during free practice for Razgatlıoğlu
Meanwhile, Razgatlıoğlu emerged in first place. A new good point for the Yamaha rider, who can win the title this weekend, and in any case puts everything on his side to achieve his goals.
However, the same cannot be said of the Kawasaki riders, who once again suffered during these FP3s. You only had to see the kicks of Alex Lowes' Ninja during the session around turn 6 to understand that the situation is complicated.
Warming up for Race 1 battle?
Looks like these two are really looking forward to fighting!#ARGWorldSBK 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/rUZrE4eYHQ
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) October 16, 2021
For his part, Jonathan Rea who fell yesterday and therefore lacked running at the start of this third free practice session, still managed to revolt in the final moments by taking the lead temporarily, without however succeeding in preventing Razgatlıoğlu to set the best time in 1'37.239 ahead of Redding.
Rea must therefore be content with third place, ahead of Garrett Gerloff and Rinaldi. Lowes, for his part, finished the session in sixth place, ahead of Axel Bassani and Michael van der Mark, while the top 10 is completed by Andrea Locatelli.
Breakdown for Davies
Isaac Viñales took 11th place ahead of Álvaro Bautista and one of the regionals of the stage, Leandro Mercado. Further down in the ranking, we find in 19th place Christophe Ponsson, the only French player to play in Argentina this weekend.
The Frenchman finished just behind Chaz Davies, who returned from injury this weekend but suffered a mechanical problem on his Ducati during the session, the latter having let out a plume of smoke. The Welshman subsequently returned to the pit without being able to come out. We hope that the damage is not too significant and that his machine will be able to return to the track during the Superpole.
