Gordon Ritchie | October 17, 2021
Sunday
WorldSBK Race Two
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) came out on top after an astoundingly competitive Race Two fight between the championship big three – and one young privateer now making a real name for himself in 2021.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) would finish second and Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had to settle for third despite leading for eight laps all in. These three top stars engaged in a superb fight for most of the final WorldSBK race at Villicum, passing and re-passing until Redding got clear on lap ten and eased out to win by almost 2.5 seconds.
Scott Redding pulled away cleanly for the race two win in Argentina.
Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) added another fourth place to his potent weekend and he was a thorn in the side of all the top riders, finishing just 1.5 seconds from Razgatlioglu. He scored fifth, fourth and fourth place finishes in Argentina, and was a front row qualifier in Superpole.
The final race of the weekend was closely contested all the way down to sixth, with Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fifth and Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) only just over eight seconds from the race win.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) placed seventh, Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) eighth, Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven Ducati) ninth and Alvaro Bautista (HRC Honda) tenth.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) pulled out of Race Two after his hand injury flared up again in the Superpole race.
With one round and 62 potential points up for grabs Razgatlioglu is 30 points ahead of Rea, with Redding now out of the championship running officially despite his win; 66 points adrift.
2021 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Race Two
| 1 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
|
| 2 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 2.428s |
| 3 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
+ 3.834s |
| 4 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+ 5.390s |
| 5 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+ 5.845s |
WorldSSP Race Two
In finishing third in Sunday’s WorldSSP race Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) took the WorldSSP Championship crown with one round to go – aided in no small part by the misfortunes of his only championship rival.
A shocking drama at the start of the second Villicum WorldSSP race saw Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) outbrake himself on a tight inside line into Turn One, crash, and clear out championship challenger Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha).
Aegerter was one of many held up by the crash right in front of him, but he set about moving forward straight away, with one hand now clearly on the championship trophy after his only potential rival’s drop out of the points.
Cluzel (16) took the race win but Aegerter took the title.
Odendaal got going again, as did the errant Gonzalez.
Aegerter was up to fourth with three laps gone and would finish third, with more than enough points to get the title.
Up front Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) had Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) right on his tail for the first half of the race, before Cluzel slowly eased away to his second win of the weekend from the young Turkish rider. Second was Can’s best result so far.
As Aegerter got into third place on track he clearly wanted to finish the title fight on the podium by his own hand, leading Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) and the breaking his challenge. Tuuli would crash at Turn 10 on the final lap, no scoring.
Odendaal got back into the points after a few laps but with six to go he fell between T15 and T16, entered the pits and then retired – the championship already decided in Aegerter’s favour.
Off podium, Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) won a late fight for fourth place from Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha).
The top ten was completed by Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) in sixth, Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing Yamaha), Glenn Van Straalen (EAB Racing Team), Marcel Brenner (VFT Racing Yamaha) and a recovered Gonzalez.
2021 Argentinian WorldSSP Results—Race Two
| 1 |
Jules Cluzel |
(Yam) |
|
| 2 |
Can Öncü |
(Kaw) |
+ 2.157s |
| 3 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
+ 5.525s |
| 4 |
Hannes Soomer |
(Yam) |
+ 12.152s |
| 5 |
Peter Sebestyen |
(Yam) |
+ 12.979 |
WorldSBK Superpole Race
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took the holeshot and the early lead from Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) in a race that would end up being decided in the Turkish rider’s favor – by just 0.046 of a second after ten flat out laps.
Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was only able to stay with the leading duo for a lap or so before it was obvious he was not going to have their leading pace.
Razgatlioglu (54) only just held off Scott Redding in the Superpole race.
Rea was unable to capitalize on a mistake from Redding that saw him run wide on the entry to the final corner, in the middle of the race, but Redding moved away from Rea once more and back into the slipstream of Razgatlioglu.
Redding made a final attempted pass on the final lap as Razgatlioglu went wide, but Redding would have to go too far wide himself on the exit of T7. Razgatlioglu got the drive onto the long back straight to let him take enough advantage to win by about a bike length.
With Rea third in the Superpole ten-lapper no matter what happens in the final race of the Argentinean weekend the championship will be decided at the final round in Indonesia. The current points gap between Razgatlioglu and Rea, with Race Two still to come, is 34 points.
Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) was eventually fourth for his best dry race result in WorldSBK so far, clearly ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) and Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha).
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) went from podium finisher on day one to eighth in the Superpole race.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was fourth early on, then fifth until lap eight, when he was passed by four other riders as he pulled up his pace, shaking his hand in some sections of the track.
Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) won the internal battle of the Hondas, finishing tenth to his team-mate Alvaro Bautista’s 11th.
One more 21-lap WorldSBK Race to go at Villicum.
2021 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Superpole Race
| 1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
|
| 2 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+ 0.046s |
| 3 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 3.419s |
| 4 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+ 5.407s |
| 5 |
M. van der Mark |
(BMW) |
+ 8.556s |
Saturday
WorldSBK Race One
Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) made winning the opening WorldSBK race of the Villicum weekend look straightforward as he ended up the 21-lap race 5.295 seconds clear of his only realistic championship rival Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).
Razgatlioglu missed the chequered flag, however, which led to some confusion for a while. It was Toprak’s 25th birthday today – and his team-mate’s.
Rea and his team-mate Alex Lowes ran very different color schemes from their 2021 regular graphics on their bikes in this race, as a celebration of Kawasaki’s 125th birthday as a company. Rea was decked-out in early 1990s green, white, and blue, and Lowes in a kind of classic GPZ900R road bike black and red.
Toprak Razgatlioglu took another step to the world title with the race one win.
Third place, in a warm Race One (if slippy and dusty, should you venture off the racing line) was taken by Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) after he came through from sixth on lap one.
Alex Lowes was to end up fourth, having been relegated from a podium place down to fifth for a spell. With his hand injury still bothering him he was pleasantly surprised to be able to fight all the way to the end of 21 laps.
Impressive front row qualifier Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati), who overtook Lowes on the second lap, was finally overhauled again by Lowes and passed by Rinaldi, but fifth in a full distance dry race was strong result for a rookie rider in a privateer team.
He may have finished second but Jonathan Rea definitely won the style contest with his retro Kawasaki livery.
Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) fell in Turn One of lap one and could not maximise his Superpole winning pace; remounting to finish ninth. He had been absolutely last, and made stunning progress through the field.
Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) was sixth, Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) seventh and Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) eighth.
With Redding ninth, Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) battled his way to tenth, after his team-mate Alvaro Bautista had crashed out on lap three.
In his comeback ride after injury Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven Ducati) was 12th, behind Tito Rabat (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing), with Eugene Laverty (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team) 13th.
2021 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Race One
| 1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
|
| 2 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 5.295s |
| 3 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+ 9.417s |
| 4 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+ 12.808s |
| 5 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+ 13.980s |
WorldSSP Race One
Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) had one early challenge to his Saturday supremacy – from Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) – before he moved ahead to a clear lead and finally a win.
This was Cluzel’s third Villicum race win in three attempts as he continued his special relationship with the undulating South American circuit.
Jules Cluzel continued his love affair with the Argentine venue by taking the race one win.
With Cluzel away to take the victory the first part of the race was a fight for second place, with Öncü trying to hold off Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team) at the halfway point. Gonzalez was finally into second with seven laps to go, confirming the podium order as Cluzel, Gonzalez and Öncü.
Steven Odendaal (BARDAHL Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha) had a difficult Saturday race at times but rallied in strong style to head up Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) and snip more points off the Swiss rider’s championship lead.
They had an engaging battle at times, as Aegerter passed Odendaal into lap one on lap four, only for the South African rider to re-pass. Very shortly afterwards Odendaal would run wide and repeat that problem more than once more as he dropped back behind even his own team-mate Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha).
Odendaal would fight back through and get into the slipstream of Aegerter after 11 laps and then pass for a final fourth place.
With Aegerter fifth Valentin Debise (GMT94 Yamaha) was sixth (after Raffaele De Rosa crashed out) and Sebestyen would finish seventh.
Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti) was eighth, Glenn Van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) ninth and Vertti Takala (Kallio Racing Yamaha) took Philipp Öttl (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) at the end for tenth.
2020 WorldSSP300 rider Jeffrey Buis (Motozoo Puccetti Racing Kawasaki) had his first ride in WorldSSP this weekend and finished 18th and last.
In the championship fight Aegerter leads Odendaal by a slightly reduced 52 points, 365 to 313, with Gonzalez tightening his grip on third place with 269 points to Öttl’s 237. One more race at Villicum on Sunday before the final round at Indonesia in November.
2021 Argentinian WorldSSP Results—Race One
| 1 |
Jules Cluzel |
(Yam) |
|
| 2 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+ 4.774s |
| 3 |
Can Öncü |
(Kaw) |
+ 7.000s |
| 4 |
Steven Odendaal |
(Yam) |
+ 11.169s |
| 5 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
+ 11.324s |
WorldSBK Superpole
After Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) had dominated the early action at San Juan Villicum Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) was the rider to secure pole position after Superpole qualifying, with his 1’37.613 lap time leading to his first qualifying success of 2021.
Scott Redding came good for the Superpole win.
Razgatlioglu was second fastest but arguably the performance of the day came from Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) who took his first front row qualifying spot since joining WorldSBK this year.
Toprak set a new track best on Saturday – just not in Superpole – with a 1’37.239 lap in the cooler conditions of FP3. A late yellow flag when local favorite Tati Mercado crashed out without injury prevented some of the top riders from going for an even faster time.
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) put in a fourth fastest lap time while Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team) was fifth, after losing the chance to take a second fastest lap on his second qualifying tyre after a small ‘moment’ during his final attempt.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) placed sixth fastest on his official Yamaha, taking the final place on the second row of the grid.
One place behind was the first BMW Motorrad rider Michael van der Mark (BMW Motorrad WorldSBK Team), with Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha) eighth.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) completed the top 10 of the penultimate Superpole of 2021.
2021 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Superpole
| 1 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
1:37.617 |
| 2 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
+ 0.183s |
| 3 |
Axel Bassani |
(Duc) |
+ 0.221s |
| 4 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.417s |
| 5 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.475s |
Friday
WorldSBK
In the penultimate race weekend of the 2021 WorldSBK season, Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team) took an important early practical and psychological advantage as he led the combined Friday times at the Circuito San Juan Villicum by 0.246 seconds over Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati).
Alex Lowes (Kawasaki Racing Team) was third but over half a second behind the pace of Razgatlioglu; a pace which appeared to build as he cut lap after lap on race tires, rather than diminish.
Can Toprak Razgatlioglu clinch the title this weekend? He’s started off in the right fashion.
Michael Ruben Rinaldi (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) jumped up to fourth, one place ahead of Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki Racing Team).
Rea had fallen with only 15 minutes of the afternoon FP2 session gone, and with his bike badly damaged he could not restart.
Every rider improved on their morning times in FP2, as returning Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven Ducati) went sixth quickest right at the end of the second 45-minute track session.
Axel Bassani (MotoCorsa Racing Ducati) was seventh, and the final rider to get within a second of Razgatlioglu.
Andrea Locatelli (Pata Yamaha WorldSBK Team), Garrett Gerloff (GRT Yamaha), and Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) completed the day one top ten.
After a wild dust storm on Thursday, a subsequent long track clean up and then a technical issue that delayed the start of FP1, the weekend did not start smoothly in Argentina. The track itself, however, was said to be in better condition than before and delivered strong lap times for Razgatlioglu that were close to the track best of 1:37.462, set by Rea in 2019.
2021 Argentinian WorldSBK Results—Friday
| 1 |
Toprak Razgatlioglu |
(Yam) |
1:37.872s |
| 2 |
Scott Redding |
(Duc) |
+ 0.246s |
| 3 |
Alex Lowes |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.548s |
| 4 |
M. Ruben Rinaldi |
(Duc) |
+ 0.561s |
| 5 |
Jonathan Rea |
(Kaw) |
+ 0.629s |
WorldSSP
2018 and 2019 San Juan Villicum WorldSSP race winner Jules Cluzel (GMT94 Yamaha) set the leading pace on the first day of action at the 4.276km long Argentinean circuit, going a gigantic 0.795 seconds faster than the next best rider, Manuel Gonzalez (Yamaha ParkinGo Team).
Cluzel was on the pace in Supersport.
From the trimmed-down field of other riders competing on day one only championship leader Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) got within a second of Cluzel, with every rider setting their personal best times in the second free practice session, on a cleaner track surface.
Peter Sebestyen (Evan Bros WorldSSP Yamaha) was fourth and the first non-Yamaha home belonged to Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Corse Clienti), in fifth place.
Glenn Van Straalen (EAB Racing Team) completed the top six on his R6.
Best Kawasaki rider, as he has been in the last few races of the season, was privateer Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura Kawasaki) in seventh.
Last challenger to Aegerter for the championship itself, Steven Odendaal (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha), was only eighth.
Can Öncü (Kawasaki Puccetti Racing) placed ninth and Hannes Soomer (Kallio Racing Yamaha) tenth.
Some riders, such as Randy Krummenacher, did not get to go to Argentina for logistical or other reasons, making for a field of only 20 bikes on Friday.
2021 Argentinian WorldSSP Results—Friday
| 1 |
Jules Cluzel |
(Yam) |
1:41.926s |
| 2 |
Manuel Gonzalez |
(Yam) |
+ 0.795s |
| 3 |
Dominique Aegerter |
(Yam) |
+ 0.907s |
| 4 |
Peter Sebestyen |
(Yam) |
+ 1.015s |
| 5 |
Niki Tuuli |
(MVA) |
+ 1.070s |
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