The Swiss driver achieved the best time at the end of the first free practice session, ahead of Manuel González and Can Öncü.
Two years later, the Supersport category also returned to the San Juan de Villicum circuit, located at the foot of the Andes Mountains in Argentina, for the 11th round of the season. The South American round this weekend will offer a new opportunity for the championship leader, Dominique Aegerter, to try to win the title.
It must be said that the Swiss driver is in a very favorable situation, with no less than 54 points margin over Steven Odendaal in the general classification. Also, the latter certainly found his way to victory during the very last event contested in Portugal, thus signing his fifth success of the season, but it would really take a combination of circumstances to prevent his Swiss opponent from being titled in this end of season.
At least the two belligerents have a similar level of experience on the Argentinian track, that is to say zero, in the sense that it is the first time that the two men will ride in San Juan. Quite the opposite, in short, of a certain Jules Cluzel, who has neither more nor less won all the races held in Argentina since it was added to the calendar in 2018.
💪 @DomiAegerter77 FASTEST of FP1 at San Juan!#ARGWorldSBK 🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/jAQORbQxO9
- WorldSBK (@WorldSBK) October 15, 2021
Fall for Cluzel
As such, we will therefore have to keep an eye on the Frenchman's performances this weekend, especially since the Auvergne returned to victory (the first in Supersport since... the edition in San Juan in 2019!) two weeks ago in Portimão, and is currently in sparkling form.
However, things did not get off to the best start for the Montluçon native, who lost the front of his Yamaha at high speed in turn 6 at the start of the session. An accident without any unfortunate consequences for the resident of the GMT94, who was still forced to stay on the dock for the rest of the session following his accident.
First place finally went to Aegerter, who brilliantly started his weekend, ahead of Manuel González. The Spaniard occupies third place in the championship ahead of Philipp Öttl (17 points separate the two men) since the last round contested in Portugal, and has every intention of ending the 2021 season on the final podium.
🇦🇷 Current #WorldSSP pace setter at San Juan, @DomiAegerter77, returns to the pit lane and gives his @TenKateRacing teammate for this weekend, Leonardo Taccini, a bit of a fright on the way in!#YamahaRacing | #ARGWorldSBK pic.twitter.com/U0yzxF6sNd
—Yamaha Racing (@yamaharacingcom) October 15, 2021
Debise in the top 5
He is ahead of Can Öncü in the ranking, who finished with a bang this year, ahead of Raffaele de Rosa and the Frenchman Valentin Debise, the highest ranked tricolor at the end of these FP1. Hannes Soomer took sixth place, ahead of Peter Sebestyen and Odendaal. Niki Tuuli and Cluzel complete the top 10, while you have to go down to 13th place to find Öttl.
Finally, it should be noted that Randy Krummenacher and his team, CM Racing, did not make the trip to Argentina due to various restrictions. They will nevertheless try to take part in the last round, which will take place next month in Indonesia, on the Mandalika circuit.
