Toprak and Bautista share Sunday wins in Argentina | WorldSBK

2022 FIM Superbike World Championship
Round Ten – San Juan, Argentina

WorldSBK Superpole Race

The Tissot Superpole Race for the MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship was ten laps of thrilling drama at the Circuito San Juan Villicum for the Motul Argentinean Round, as Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) claimed a hard-fought victory after a last-lap battle with Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in the ten-lap race. The pair were inseparable during the final few laps with Razgatlioglu taking victory by 0.613s.

Razgatlioglu took advantage of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) running wide at Turn 1 when flicking from second to first gear and finding neutral at the start of Lap 6 to move into the lead of the race but had Bautista directly behind him.

At Turn 8, Bautista made a move on Lap 8, but the reigning Champion responded instantly. A lap later and Bautista made a move at Turn 8, which put Razgatlioglu second, but he responded at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 10 to re-take the lead.

On the final lap, Bautista made the same move at the same corner which forced Razgatlioglu to respond into Turn 9 and he did so, running the pair a little bit wide but staying on the track before holding on to take victory. It was a similar move that he tried to make in Race 1 on Saturday which ended up with him in the gravel; Razgatlioglu able to make it work on Sunday.

Italian rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) came out on top in a three-rider fight for fourth place. Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) was fifth ahead of Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in sixth place. The three riders were more than three seconds down on Rea in third but, at the end of the race, were separated by just over a second.

WorldSBK Superpole Race Results

WorldSBK Race Two

In the early stages of the race, Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.It Racing – Ducati) and Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) stole the show from their respective title contender team-mates, moving into the top two spots.

Alvaro Bautista had to fight his way back through the field after a poor start, which dropped him down to fifth place, and he picked off his rivals in the early stages of the race.

On Lap 4, the Spanish rider made a move on second-placed Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) into Turn 8 before making a similar move on team-mate Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) a lap later.

At the same time, Razgatlioglu who, like Bautista, lost out on the opening laps, was following Bautista through, with Razgatlioglu passing Lowes at Turn 10 on Lap 4 and then Rinaldi at Turn 1 on Lap 6.

Despite Razgatlioglu closing the gap throughout most of the lap to Bautista, the Spanish rider extended his lead down the long back straight and eventually pulled out a gap of around three-seconds to the reigning Champion.

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Bautista’s victory gave him his 14th of his 2022 campaign and Razgatlioglu is now 83 points behind the Ducati man.

The battle for the final podium place was between Lowes and team-mate Jonathan Rea after the six-time Champion ran wide a couple of times in the early stages. Rea looked to pass Rinaldi at Turn 9 on Lap 2, which allowed Lowes through, before he ran wide again at the next corner and dropped down to sixth place.

Rea battled his way past Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) at Turn 10 on Lap 6 to move into fifth before both Lowes and Rea passed Rinaldi on Lap 7. For the next 11 laps, Lowes was able to stay ahead of his teammate but Rea made the move at Turn 8 on Lap 18 to take third place.

Lowes finished fourth, dropping around two-seconds behind his team-mate in the closing stages, although Lowes did have a four second margin to Rinaldi in fifth. Rinaldi was one rider who opted to use Pirelli’s SC0 tyre with most of the field using the SCX tyres. Xavi Vierge (Team HRC) put four manufacturers inside the top six as he took sixth place, with Rinaldi, Vierge and Iker Lecuona (Team HRC) in a three-way fight for fifth place. Lecuona finished two tenths behind team-mate Vierge, who was seven-tenths behind Rinaldi.

Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) left Argentina with eighth place after a battle with Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) in ninth; the pair were separated by just one second at the end of the race.

Redding led a trio of BMW riders as he finished in eighth place, with team-mate Michael van der Mark in tenth and Eugene Laverty (Bonovo Action BMW) 11th.

Garrett Gerloff (GYTR GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team) was around two-seconds back from Laverty as he took 12th place, while he had a more than one second margin to the returning Xavi Fores (BARNI Spark Racing Team).

WorldSBK Race Two Results

WorldSBK Rider Quotes

Alvaro Bautista

“For sure today, it’s been really though in the race. First of all, because it’s the last race of the weekend, and you feel, physically, all the efforts from the weekend but also because today the track was more difficult than yesterday. It was easier to make mistakes. I didn’t start well and lost some positions. But at the same time, it was good because I let the other riders evaluate the situation before me. Then I started to understand how much I could push, and I decided to recover the positions and take the lead because I felt that I could be faster than the others. I took the lead. I saw Toprak was close to me. I didn’t think about taking points, about the risks… just to do my best. I gave everything. In the end, I could win some advantage and I could manage until the end. I’m so happy, today my performance was really good.”

Toprak Razgatlioglu

“In the second race, I tried my best and kept fighting for the win. I was waiting for Alvaro’s tyre to drop but it didn’t happen, so I kept fighting for second position. I want to thank my team, in the last minutes we changed the plan and decided to use the SCX tyre. The SCX tyre is destroyed but I was feeling much better during the race. We keep fighting for the Championship. We’ll try our best again in Mandalika.”

Jonathan Rea

“I’m just disappointed because my bike this morning was incredible, in the Superpole Race. I had good traction and everything was working. From the get-go in Race 2 this afternoon, I had nothing. As soon as I turned into Turn 2, I felt ‘why is the bike not hooking up?’. I was fighting, a real passenger for most of the race, so we need to analyse exactly what happened because it was strange. It was a battle with my teammate, Alex. In the beginning with Vierge and Rinaldi. It was just about grinding those guys down and letting the tyres move around a little bit. Alex’s pace was fast! He just kept going and going and going. There was a point I thought ‘maybe my best is fourth’. I kept going, never gave up, and finally I could arrive on the podium.”

Alex Lowes

“I was happy with the weekend. I think our pace was fourth this weekend. I wasn’t quite as fast as the first three but it looked like, in the practices, I was a bit quicker than the guys behind. Shame not to be able to get on the podium. I felt quite good at the end of the race, but the SCX rear tyre just dropped, and I had lot of chatter in the end. We’ll try again in Indonesia.” 

Michael Ruben Rinaldi

“Actually, I smelled the podium and you know, going home without the trophy is not what I wanted but if you see Friday, I can be satisfied with how we answered to a bad Friday. We worked hard, we improved the bike, we improved the feeling, we improved the time, and we were able to lead some laps, which is not bad. But to fight the top three guys, you must be at your 100% everywhere. Unfortunately, with the hot conditions, I was not comfortable riding because I couldn’t stop the bike the way I wanted to. Now we are so consistent in the race even if it’s not going well, so we just need a small step, but I think that it’s closer than you think.”

Xavi Vierge

“It has been a really good weekend for us. We started FP1 struggling a lot and I didn’t understand how to go faster, especially in sector 3 and 4 but the team made an amazing job. It helped me a lot to improve the feeling with the bike and understand how to go fast, and every time we went out, we improved a lot, especially after FP3. The plan was to try to win some places in the Tissot Superpole Race and this helped us to be a bit closer to the front in Race 2. I caught Rinaldi and I tried to overtake him, but he was faster than me in some parts of the track. I was faster in some others but not enough to overtake him. It has been a good race. I learned a lot during the weekend, and it was good for us to make these improvements for the future.”

Iker Lecuona

“Today I’m both very frustrated and very happy. Frustrated because Race2 was the first race where I couldn’t make a pass unless the rider ahead had a problem. It’s true that I made a bad start to the race, and I was able to pass Bassani because he had some problems through a corner when Baz crashed out. But once I closed the gap to Xavi, I couldn’t do anything, no “clean” overtaking. Maybe with a rider who was not my team-mate I would have taken more “risks” but, in this case, I thought it was better to try to do it safely but honestly it was impossible.

“In the middle of the race, I decided to let the tyres “rest” a bit because the front was starting to feel a bit greasy and then, five laps before the end, I pushed again and got really close to Xavi, feeling I had something more. I was losing along the straight and wanted to overtake him and try and fight with Rinaldi as well. So, that was the frustrating part, while, if I consider the weekend overall, with P4 in qualifying and race 1 and another close-run P6 in the Superpole race, it hasn’t been bad. So thanks to the team and now it’s time to go back home, relax, recharge and focus on preparing for Indonesia.”

Scott Redding

“The weekend in general was up and down. We tried to learn some things with the bike, with the setting, but it turned out that it was not better, so for the final race we went back to what we know and the feeling came a bit better. It was a shame because normally I am quite fast here and I could not really show the full potential in the races. In the Superpole race, we had to use the SC0 rear tyre which was not contested by everyone else on the SCX. In the afternoon, we made some changes so I could use the X tyre. I was feeling quite good with the bike but we ran into some brake issues and then I started to struggle. So all in all I’m happy to come from the weekend on a positive note but we need to work a bit more for the next round.” 

Michael van der Mark

“The Superpole race was alright. I felt okay, I just could not get past some other guys and ended up P11, so no improvement on the starting grid for race two. In the second race, my start was okay but got stopped in the first couple of corners. We set a quite good pace but I just did not have enough to get close to the guys in front of me and try to pass them. The pace was alright this weekend, we improved quite a lot with the set-up also and I am feeling better and better on the bike. I am feeling how the bike is coming back. So obviously it is not the position we want to finish in but from my side, we had a solid weekend and I think we have improved the bike so I am quite happy.”

Eugene Laverty

“The Superpole race was a disaster honestly, it was the worst race of the year. We had a problem with the rear of the bike and had no rear grip. Then we changed it for the second race and transformed the bike. I’m very happy with the work we did today. It was a nice surprise to be top independent. This result is nice for the entire Bonovo action BMW Racing Team, as they’ve worked so hard all year with not so many results from me, so I’m happy I could finally deliver.”

Garrett Gerloff

“Well, the result is not fantastic, even though I felt a bit better than yesterday on the bike. Unluckily it wasn’t enough to make a strong impression, and starting from P12 didn’t help at all. We struggled with rear tyre grip, which also didn’t help our chances. Let’s stay positive for the remaining rounds, I’m sure we can enjoy a good end to the season.”

Kohta Nozane

“We should be happy with the improvements made for today, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stay in the points. I’m sorry for the guys, I wanted to give them a good result. Overall the feeling was decent and we had good comebacks in both Superpole Race and Race 2, it’s just a shame to miss out. Now we’ll head to Indonesia, I cannot wait to be there as I have great memories from my rookie year.”

Loris Baz

“Actually, I’m disappointed. All of us BMWs have been struggling here and I think it was not the easiest track for us, but I think I was riding pretty well all weekend. I did a good Superpole, was struggling yesterday, but we improved the bike this morning. We managed to be in the top nine of the Superpole race. I had a really, really good start in the second race, I was in the top five and then I was just trying to ride gently and not use the tyre. Bassani took me out, so that was over. I restarted, finished 17th, unfortunately no points. Coming to Argentina and all this traveling for one point in the Superpole race is not a big reward, but as a team we did a great job, never gave up all weekend.”

WorldSBK Championship Points

WorldSSP Race Two

Swiss rider Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) took a last-lap victory in the FIM Supersport World Championship at the Circuito San Juan Villicum to put him on the verge of making WorldSSP history. The reigning Champion extended his lead to 72 points over Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) following the Turn 15 overtake on the final lap during a dramatic Motul Argentinean Round as race leaders crashed out and there were final lap battles to decide the podium places.

Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura WorldSSP) was controlling the race from first position but his race came to an end on Lap 11 after the Italian crashed at Turn 9 from the lead of the race. Although able to re-join the race, he brought his machine into the pits and retired from the race.

This allowed Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team), Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) to fight at the front of the field for victory.

With Baldassarri out in front, Aegerter and Caricasulo were battling with each other which allowed the Italian rookie to extend his gap at the front of the field; Caricasulo dropped behind Aegerter initially after an error on Lap 14 in the first sector, with Aegerter taking advantage.

Once Aegerter got ahead of Caricasulo, he closed in on Baldassarri over the final few laps and he did so, passing Baldassarri into Turn 10 on Lap 17. Baldassarri resisted Aegerter until the final lap before Aegerter made a move on the Italian at Turn 15 on the final lap to take his 15th win of the 2022 season.

Baldassarri ran wide following the move from Aegerter which allowed Caricasulo to take advantage and move into second place, with Caricasulo taking his third podium of the season and his best result of 2022 as he put himself on 25 podiums in WorldSSP.

Baldassarri’s third place means he now has 15 WorldSSP podiums but the nine-point swing between Aegerter and Baldassarri in Race 2 means Aegerter can win the title in the next race, when WorldSSP visits Indonesia.

Finnish rider Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) had been fighting for the podium places but he ran wide on Lap 7 at Turn 1 which dropped him down the order. Despite closing the gap as the riders ahead of him battled, he was only able to take fourth place and finishing just over two seconds behind Aegerter; fourth is Tuuli’s best result of the season.

Stefano Manzo (Dynavolt Triumph) took fifth place, with three ‘next generation’ machines inside the top five, while Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) took sixth place on his final race in Argentina.

Turkish rider Can Oncu (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) took seventh spot as he fought up the field following a difficult Tissot Superpole session, in what turned out to be a bit of a lonely race for Oncu. He was four seconds behind Cluzel but almost six seconds ahead of Nicolo Bulega (Ariuba.it Racing WorldSSP Team) in eighth.

Andy Verdoia (GMT94 Yamaha) was ninth as he fought with Bulega in the latter stages of the race, finishing just 0.680s behind the Italian, while Adrian Huertas (MTM Kawasaki) rounded out the top ten.

It was a dramatic start to the race with a crash between Oli Bayliss (BARNI Spark Racing Team) and Hannes Soomer (Dynavolt Triumph) putting Soomer out of the race on the spot, while Bayliss was able to continue although the Australian did have to bring his bike into the pits in the opening stages of the race. Bayliss was taken to the medical centre for a check-up following the crash.

Oli Bayliss

“This was not the way I wanted to finish this race, in Race 2 I was hit by another rider in the second corner and there was nothing I could do. In the warm-up we made a big setup change which gave me a good feeling, so I’m happy with how the team managed to find a solution, unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to test the effects in the race. This will still be a good starting point for the next round. I am disappointed with how it turned out, but the work done is not to be thrown away.”

WorldSSP Race Two Results

WorldSSP Championship Points

2022 WorldSBK Calendar

Argentinean WSBK Round Schedule