San Juan WorldSBK FP3 Results: Toprak Razgatlioglu holds off Alvaro Bautista
Toprak Razgatlioglu holds off the challenge from Alvaro Bautista to top the final practice ahead of Superpole in San Juan.
With track action very busy at the start of FP3 following an overnight storm, Bautista, Razgatlioglu and Scott Redding all saw time at the top of the leaderboard before the championship leader began to stretch away.
A time of 1:38.229s was set by Bautista, with Razgatlioglu a further two tenths back. Alex Lowes momentarily took over at the front with a first sub 1m 38s lap of the session, however, Bautista responded immediately to go quickest once more.
Bautista’s strengths were clear to see with sectors two and three proving to be especially strong for the Ducati rider, although he was still losing time to his rivals in sector four.
Lowes then had his lap time deleted due to exceeding track limits, relegating him back to fourth position, before the Kawasaki rider set an impressive time of 1:37.417s to move back atop the standings.
Struggling to match the pace of his team-mate, Jonathan Rea made an early return to pit lane after being more than a second slower than Lowes.
| 2022 World Superbike San Juan, Argentina - Free Practice Results (3) | ||||
| Pos | Rider | Nat | Team | Time |
| 1 | Toprak Razgatlioglu | TUR | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | 1:37.216s |
| 2 | Alvaro Bautista | SPA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +0.030s |
| 3 | Alex Lowes | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.201s |
| 4 | Iker Lecuona | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +0.399s |
| 5 | Jonathan Rea | GBR | Kawasaki Racing Team WorldSBK | +0.404s |
| 6 | Loris Baz | FRA | Bonovo Action BMW | +0.497s |
| 7 | Axel Bassani | ITA | Motocorsa Ducati | +0.614s |
| 8 | Michael Rinaldi | ITA | Aruba.It Racing Ducati | +0.660s |
| 9 | Andrea Locatelli | ITA | PATA Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK | +0.737s |
| 10 | Scott Redding | GBR | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +0.835s |
| 11 | Philipp Oettl | GER | GoEleven Ducati | +1.044s |
| 12 | Michael Van Der Mark | SPA | BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team | +1.129s |
| 13 | Garrett Gerloff | USA | GRT Yamaha WorldSBK Team | +1.186s |
| 14 | Kohta Nozane | JPN | GRT Yamaha | +1.201s |
| 15 | Lucas Mahias | FRA | Puccetti Kawasaki | +1.206s |
| 16 | Xavi Vierge | SPA | Team HRC WorldSBK | +1.231s |
| 17 | Xavi Fores | SPA | Barni Spark Ducati Team | +1.286s |
| 18 | Leandro Mercado | ARG | MIE Honda Racing | +1.438s |
| 19 | Eugene Laverty | IRL | Bonovo Action BMW | +1.993s |
| 20 | Oliver Konig | CZE | Orelac Racing Kawasaki | +2.010s |
| 21 | Maximilian Scheib | GER | MIE Honda Racing | +2.443s |
| 22 | Marco Solorza | ARG | Pedercini Kawasaki | +4.707s |
Continuing to go quicker than Lowes in the opening three sectors, Bautista’s impressive race run saw him finally move back ahead of the Brit despite losing time again in the final few corners.
Rea began to find pace at the beginning of his second stint as he moved ahead of Razgatlioglu and into third, however, the two 2021 title contenders were struggling to match the pre-race favourite.
Fastest on combined times during Friday practice, Razgatlioglu wrestled back control from Bautista by setting a 1:37.347s.
Improvements on his next lap around resulted in Razgatlioglu going underneath the all-time lap record.
San Juan WorldSBK Records:
Lap record: Toprak Razgatlioglu TUR Pata Yamaha 1:37.216s (2022)
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.
Prior to Friday's FP1 getting underway it was confirmed that Leandro Mercado won’t be continuing with MIE Honda in 2023.
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
