Lowes leads first practice at new Villicum track

Full WorldSBK FP1 results from Argentina

Alex Lowes has taken the honour of topping the first-ever World Superbike session at San Juan Villicum at the start of the new Argentina round edging out 2018 champion Jonathan Rea.

All riders got their first experience of the new Argentine track in the opening 40-minute session and lap times duly tumbled throughout FP1 as the circuit rubbered in and the riders grew familiar with the layout.

As a result, Lowes claimed top spot for Pata Yamaha with his final lap of 1m 44.096s to keep clear of Rea’s late improvement by 0.134s.

Puccetti Kawasaki’s Toprak Razgatlioglu impressed getting up to speed in Argentina by taking third spot on the FP1 times ahead of Aruba.it Racing Ducati’s Marco Melandri and factory Kawasaki’s Tom Sykes.

Pata Yamaha’s Michael van der Mark claimed sixth place ahead of factory Ducati’s Chaz Davies with Lorenzo Savadori taking eighth for Milwaukee Aprilia.

Local rider Leandro Mercado made a solid start at his home round for Orelac Racing Kawasaki in ninth with Althea BMW’s Loris Baz rounding out the top ten.

MV Agusta’s new rider Maximilian Scheib could only complete six laps due to technical issues with his F4. The Chilean rider has replaced Jordi Torres for the remainder of the season.