San Juan WorldSBK FP1 Results: Toprak Razgatlioglu in rampant form
Toprak Razgatlioglu dominates the opening practice for the Argentine WorldSBK round in San Juan after leading from start to finish.
After going seven tenths clear of Razgatlioglu during the early stages of FP1, Jonathan Rea was then pushed back to second as the reigning world champion began to find his rhythm.
A time of 1:38.404s was set by Razgatlioglu as he went back to the top of the leaderboard by seven tenths once again.
The Yamaha rider’s time meant he was the first rider to set a sub 1m 39s lap as everyone else struggled to break that barrier.
Rea managed to get within four tenths of the Turkish star on his fifth flying lap, however, the margin between the top two grew to +0.446s as Razgatlioglu came close to setting a 1m 37s time.
Slow to get in touch with his two title rivals, Alvaro Bautista finally joined the top five battle as he went fourth quickest - just over half a second off Razgatlioglu who remained fourth tenths clear of Alex Lowes with half the session remaining.
Rea went back ahead of his team-mate at the beginning of his second run, however, the six-time WorldSBK champion was still over four tenths off Razgatlioglu.
| 2022 World Superbike San Juan, Argentina - Free Practice Results (1) | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | 1:37.511s |
| 2 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.322s |
| 3 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | +0.571s |
| 4 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +0.642s |
| 5 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +0.932s |
| 6 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +0.941s |
| 7 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.943s |
| 8 | Scott Redding | GBR | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +1.036s |
| 9 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +1.307s |
| 10 | Michael Van Der Mark | SPA | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +1.669s |
| 11 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +1.706s |
| 12 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +1.780s |
| 13 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | Bonovo Action BMW | +1.843s |
| 14 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +1.899s |
| 15 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +1.953s |
| 16 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +1.988s |
| 17 | Xavi Fores | SPA | Barni Spark Ducati Team | +2.065s |
| 18 | Leandro Mercado | ARG | MIE Honda Racing | +2.464s |
| 19 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +3.050s |
| 20 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha | +3.106s |
| 21 | Maximilian Scheib | GER | MIE Honda Racing | +4.269s |
| 22 | Marco Solorza | ARG | Pedercini Kawasaki | +5.636s |
With 15 minutes remaining Razgatlioglu finally broke the 1m 38s barrier after getting close on several occasions previously.
Able to match Razgatlioglu in different parts of the lap, Bautista and Rea came close to challenging the Yamaha rider but were unable to put a full lap together.
As Andrea Locatelli jumped up to second to make it a Pata Yamaha 1-2, Razgatlioglu lowered the benchmark time even further to go half a second clear.
Bautista, who was now third, set the quickest second sector of the session with less than a minute remaining, before the series leader lost nearly four tenths in sector three.
San Juan WorldSBK Records:
Lap record: Scott Redding GBR Aruba.it Ducati 1:37.345s
2021 San Juan Winners
Race 1: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Superpole Race: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha
Race 2: Scott Redding GBR Aruba.it Ducati
Marco Solorza is replacing Leon Haslam at Pedercini Kawasaki this weekend, while Maximilian Scheib is stepping in for Hafizh Syahrin who was ruled out due to injury and illness.
Xavi Fores is also returning to WorldSBK as he replaces Luca Bernardi at Barni Spark Racing Ducati, after the Italian was demoted to WorldSSP with CM Ducati.
San Juan Weekend schedule (UK time)
Friday
Free Practice 1: 14:30-15:15
Free Practice 2: 19:00-19:45
Saturday
Free Practice 3: 14:00-14:30
Superpole: 16:10-16:25
Race 1: 19:00
Sunday
Warm-up: 14:00-14:10
Superpole Race: 16:00
Race 2: 19:00
