Qualifying report
World Superbike Villicum
Argentina WSBK: Razgatlioglu smashes lap record to take pole
Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu obliterated the lap record at Circuito San Juan Villicum to claim pole position for the Argentina round of the World Superbike Championship.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Oct 22, 2022, 3:52 PM
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Having been the quickest rider throughout practice, Razgatlioglu was again the man to beat in qualifying as he outclassed title rivals Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista to claim his third pole position of the 2022 season.
The Turkish rider was quick out of the blocks in the 20-minute session, diving straight into the 1m36s bracket to set a new circuit record at the Argentine venue.
The 1m37.687s lap he posted in his first run was more than half a second quicker than what he managed in third practice earlier on Saturday, and put him three tenths clear of both Loris Baz and Jonathan Rea at the halfway point of the session.
There were major improvements across the board when the riders returned on track for the final minutes of qualifying, with Bautista first to dethrone Razgatlioglu on the factory Ducati with a time of 1m36.671s.
Rea was the next rider on a quick lap and found a huge chunk of time compared to his first run, taking provisional pole by two tenths of a second.
However, Razgatlioglu left his best for the last and, having crossed the line seconds before the chequered flag was dropped, he was able to secure his first pole position since Assen in April with a time of 1m36.216s.
The record-setting lap was over two tenths quicker than what Rea managed on his Kawasaki, with Bautista finishing a similar margin behind in third, as the three championship protagonists locked out the front row yet again in WSBK.
Iker Lecuona put in a strong performance aboard the factory Honda to set the fourth-quickest time, albeit seven tenths down on Razgatlioglu, while BMW also enjoyed a positive showing as Scott Redding qualified fifth on the factory M1000RR ahead of the satellite Bonovo bike of Baz.
Baz had a late tumble but was able to remount on the bike, finishing 0.004s clear of the next independent rider in the order, Axel Bassani on the Motocorsa Ducati.
The top 10 was completed by Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes and the Honda of Xavi Vierge, with Lowes dropping down the order from fourth to ninth after failing to improve on his first run.
Both Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) and Michael van der Mark (BMW) missed out on a spot inside the first three rows on their respective factory bikes, ending up 11th and 14th respectively.
Argentina WSBK - Qualifying results:
Cla # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 1 Toprak Razgatlioglu
Yamaha 1'36.216 2 65 Jonathan Rea
Kawasaki 1'36.449 0.233 3 19 Alvaro Bautista
Ducati 1'36.671 0.455 4 7 Iker Lecuona
Honda 1'36.953 0.737 5 45 Scott Redding
BMW 1'36.974 0.758 6 76 Loris Baz
BMW 1'37.027 0.811 7 47 Axel Bassani
Ducati 1'37.031 0.815 8 21 Michael Ruben Rinaldi
Ducati 1'37.066 0.850 9 22 Alex Lowes
Kawasaki 1'37.122 0.906 10 97 Xavi Vierge
Honda 1'37.159 0.943 11 55 Andrea Locatelli
Yamaha 1'37.347 1.131 12 31 Garrett Gerloff
Yamaha 1'37.399 1.183 13 44 Lucas Mahias
Kawasaki 1'37.634 1.418 14 60 Michael van der Mark
BMW 1'37.770 1.554 15 12 Xavi Fores
Ducati 1'37.908 1.692 16 3 Kohta Nozane
Yamaha 1'38.108 1.892 17 5 Philipp Oettli
Ducati 1'38.149 1.933 18 50 Eugene Laverty
BMW 1'38.153 1.937 19 36 Leandro Mercado
Honda 1'38.184 1.968 20 52 Oliver Konig
Kawasaki 1'38.683 2.467 21 27 Maximilian Scheib
Honda 1'39.225 3.009 22 39 Marco Solorza
Kawasaki 1'40.750 4.534 View full results
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