Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Edition

Global Global
Race report

Argentina WSBK: Bautista defeats Razgatlioglu to win Race 2

Ducati’s Alvaro Bautista strengthened his bid for the 2022 World Superbike title with a second victory of the Argentina weekend in Sunday’s final race.

Alvaro Bautista, Aruba.it Racing Ducati

A number of riders took turns leading the 21-lap contest at Circuito San Juan Villicum, before Bautista hit the front and pulled away from the rest of the field.

At the start it was Jonathan Rea who grabbed the top spot with a rapid launch from third on the grid, with Michael Ruben RInaldi also making a quick getaway from fourth to demote polesitter Toprak Razgatlioglu to third.

Rinaldi was the next rider to move into the lead, passing Rea at the beginning of the second lap, with the Kawasaki star subsequently dropping to fifth after running wide at both Turn 7 and 8 on either end of the back-straight.

Alex Lowes also enjoyed a brief moment of glory after passing Rinaldi at the Turn 7 left-hander, before the factory Ducati rider quickly bounced back to reinstate the status quo.

Ultimately, Rinaldi’s reign at the front would also prove to be short-lived, with Bautista and Razgatlioglu passing him in quick succession on lap 5.

Razgatlioglu had won a close duel with Bautista earlier on Sunday afternoon in the Superpole race, but Bautista had the measure of his chief championship rival this time.

After running in close proximity for several laps, the Spaniard was able to pull a one-second buffer out front, before extending his advantage further en route to a convincing 3.3s victory.

It was Bautista's 14th visit to the top step of the podium and the result puts him 82 points clear of second-placed Razgatlioglu in the standings, with just the two flyaway weekends in Indonesia and Australia still to run.

Rea recovered from his lap two errors that dropped him to sixth to grab the final spot on the podium in third, overtaking Kawasaki teammate Lowes into Turn 8 with just four laps to run.

After his early heroics, Rinaldi had to settle for fifth on the factory Ducati, more than 15 seconds off his race-winning teammate Bautista, although he still secured some important points for the Italian marque in its battle against Yamaha in the manufacturers' standings.

Behind, Xavi Vierge got the jump on Iker Lecuona at the start and managed to fend off a mid-race attack from his teammate to finish as the top Honda rider in sixth.

Yamaha’s Andrea Locatelli could only rise up to eighth after a disappointing qualifying session, leading factory BMW duo Scott Redding and Michael Ruben Rinaldi.

Incredibly, not a single rider from a satellite team finished inside the top 10, with Eugene Laverty the best among that contingent in 11th on the Bonovo BMW.

Fellow satellite rider Axel Bassani had a torrid day in Argentina, picking up a double lap penalty after failing to serve his initial sanction handed to him for irresponsible riding.

Bassani was then hit with a ride-through penalty, ostensibly for serving his double long lap penalty too late, and eventually crossed the line in 20th place.

Argentina WSBK - Race 2 results:

Cla # Rider Bike Gap
1 19 Spain Alvaro Bautista Ducati  
2 1 Turkey Toprak Razgatlioglu Yamaha 3.389
3 65 United Kingdom Jonathan Rea Kawasaki 9.784
4 22 United Kingdom Alex Lowes Kawasaki 11.650
5 21 Italy Michael Ruben Rinaldi Ducati 15.656
6 97 Spain Xavi Vierge Honda 16.381
7 7 Spain Iker Lecuona Honda 16.584
8 55 Italy Andrea Locatelli Yamaha 20.401
9 45 United Kingdom Scott Redding BMW 21.420
10 60 Netherlands Michael van der Mark BMW 22.413
11 50 Ireland Eugene Laverty BMW 30.732
12 31 United States Garrett Gerloff Yamaha 32.655
13 12 Spain Xavi Fores Ducati 34.058
14 5 Germany Philipp Oettli Ducati 38.422
15 44 France Lucas Mahias Kawasaki 39.869
16 3 Japan Kohta Nozane Yamaha 41.107
17 76 France Loris Baz BMW 44.649
18 52 Czech Republic Oliver Konig Kawasaki 49.119
19 36 Argentina Leandro Mercado Honda 54.421
20 47 Italy Axel Bassani Ducati  
21 27 Chile Maximilian Scheib Honda  
22 39 Marco Solorza Kawasaki  

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Argentina WSBK: Razgatlioglu outduels Bautista in Superpole race
Next article Bautista: Rea had chance to end losing streak in Argentina

Top Comments

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Edition

Global Global