22
October
2022
|
11:00
Europe/Amsterdam

Razgatlioglu record man with Pirelli SCQ but Race 1 goes to Bautista

In Argentina the Turkish rider dominates the FP sessions, smashes the track record in Superpole, but crashes in the race; 14th win of the season for Aegerter in WorldSSP

FOCUS ON SUPERPOLE

WorldSBK (asphalt: 41° C / air: 16° C)

After being the fastest in free practice on Friday and in FP3 this morning, in qualifying, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK) took pole position for the Motul Argentinean Round of the FIM World Superbike Championship ahead of six time world champion Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK) and championship leader Alvaro Bautista (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati). In Superpole, all the riders use the SCQ rear solution which allowed the Turkish rider to set the new track record with a time of 1’36.216, more than a second faster than the previous record set in 2021 by Scott Redding (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team). We should point out that all of the top 10 riders on the grid lapped faster than last year’s track record.

WorldSSP (asphalt: 35° C / air: 15° C)

With a time of 1’41.181, it was a new track record for the WorldSSP category set by Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) as he took pole position - his seventh this year, on the Argentinian track. The reigning World Champion was more than half a second faster than the previous record set by Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) in 2021, which was also broken by all the top seven riders as demonstration of the fast pace. Behind Aegerter were Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing), second, and Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing Verdnatura WorldSSP), third, to complete the front row. Fourth place, on the other hand, went to title contender Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team). All the riders used standard SCX rear tyres and SC1 front tyres with top speeds reaching 270 km/h.

TYRES IN ACTION IN RACE 1

WorldSBK (asphalt: 50° C / air: 20° C)

Race length was 21 laps as planned. Tyre compound choices were rather varied. At the rear, 14 riders out of 22, including race winner Álvaro Bautista, opted for the standard SCX (option A), whereas 8 preferred relying on the standard SC0 (option B). Among these eight were also Toprak Razgatlioglu, Jonathan Rea, Scott Redding, and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing). As for the front, no fewer than 17 riders chose the A0674 SC1 development solution (option B). The race lost one of the main protagonists on the first lap when Razgatlioglu ended up in the gravel on turn 9. The Turkish rider managed to re-enter the track, but his race was already compromised at that point and he only finished in 15th place. With Razgatlioglu out of the contest, Axel Bassani took the lead ahead of Bautista and Rea. The Italian privateer rode an exemplary race but was unable to fend off the Spanish Ducati rider who overtook him for the lead on the eighth lap. During the 18th lap, the Italian was also forced to yield second place to Jonathan Rea, finishing on the bottom step of the podium. Bautista thereby pulled even farther ahead in the championship standings, now +80 over Toprak Razgatlioglu and +87 ahead of Jonathan Rea.

WorldSSP (asphalt: 50° C / air: 17° C)

In Race 1, almost all the riders used the SCX front and SCX rear combination. Only 6 riders used the SC0 rear tyre. Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha), starting from pole position, triumphed, taking his 14th win of the season ahead of Italians Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing Verdnatura WorldSSP), second, and Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing), third. The Swiss rider now has a 63 point advantage over the nearest contender, Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team), who finished this race ninth.

For more details on the tyres used in the race by the individual riders in the WorldSBK and WorldSSP classes, please see the sheets attached to this press release. 

GIORGIO BARBIER, MOTORCYCLE RACING DIRECTOR

“Up to now, we cannot help but be satisfied with what we’ve seen on the track. As early as Friday, it was clear that the pace was extremely high and today we had confirmation of this. Razgatlioglu improving on the track record by 1 second is an impressive result and knowing that, besides him, almost half the riders managed to drop below the previous track record gives us an even better idea of how fast they are this year compared to the past. The race pace was also crazy, with average lap times a half a second faster than Race 1 of past years in almost identical air and asphalt conditions. We saw that both the standard SCX and SC0 had very similar performance in the race, so they are both valid solutions, whereas the SCQ was the record setting tyre. Congratulations to Bautista for the win and to Razgatlioglu for the new record, but also to Bassani for his great performance in the race.”