Scott Redding (Aruba.it Ducati) in the third free practice session on the ground – after Johnny Rea the day before, this time the third place in the World Championship got hit on Saturday morning, who, like the Northern Irishman, luckily did not injure himself in his crash.

Qualifying for the penultimate WorldSBK round

After Jonathan Rea had a crash in FP2 on Friday afternoon, it was Scott Redding’s turn in the third free practice session. The Englishman had crashed in turn 14, but like the reigning world champion, he hadn’t injured himself and even set the second-best time in FP3 after Razgatlioglu. The Turk set the fastest time three times in a row, and Rea was third this time. There was a little celebration in the Yamaha box because Toprak and team-mate Andrea Locatelli turned 25 on the same day. Then it got down to business in Superpole and first, as almost always, it was the turn of the WorldSSP 600. It is thanks to the extremely clumsy calendar that FIM and Dorna pushed through that many pilots, teams and companions had to forego the journey to San Juan.

Jonathan Rea’s destroyed Kawasaki ZX-10RR after his crash on Friday in FP2 in Turn 6 – of course, repairing it in the remaining 30 minutes was out of the question and thus the Northern Irishman missed the last two thirds of the second free practice.

The bad planning by FIM and Dorna with dramatic consequences
There was chaos and scandalous conditions in Argentina, with cancelled flights and completely overpriced plane tickets, as well as the Covid tests. While World Cup leader Aegerter was on the road for around 30 hours, his compatriot Krummenacher and his team decided not to take part. They simply did not have the money for the completely overpriced journey. If you consider that the FIM has a president from Argentina, it is easy to understand that the interests of drivers and teams have been trampled again here. In the paddock the anger was huge and especially for those who had to forego taking part in the penultimate lap for cost reasons. Another black chapter of the misery for which Dorna and FIM were responsible, when even the Supersport 600 world champions from 2019 had to do without with a heavy heart thanks to their bad planning. Below is the classification of the qualifying, with the world championship leader only in the second row of the grid.

P, No, Rider, Bike, Time(,Gap), km/h, Laps
1, 16, CLUZEL Jules, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’41.740, , 269, 10
2, 4, ODENDAAL Steven, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.075, 0.335, 271, 7
3, 81, GONZALEZ Manuel, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.080, 0.340, 266, 7
4, 61, ONCU Can Alexander, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1’42.136, 0.396, 272, 8
5, 77, AEGERTER Dominique, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.173, 0.433, 268, 8
6, 53, DEBISE Valentin, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.199, 0.459, 266, 10
7, 3, DE ROSA Raffaele, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1’42.348, 0.608, 267, 8
8, 56, SEBESTYEN Peter, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.508, 0.768, 268, 8
9, 66, TUULI Niki, MV Agusta F3 675, 1’42.710, 0.970, 264, 8
10, 40, ORRADRE Unai, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.728, 0.988, 270, 7
11, 5, OETTL Philipp, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1’42.745, 1.005, 269, 8
12, 38, SOOMER Hannes, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.790, 1.050, 268, 9
13, 25, BRENNER Marcel, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’42.858, 1.118, 267, 8
14, 95, TAKALA Vertti, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’43.010, 1.270, 268, 9
15, 28, VAN STRAALEN Glenn, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’43.194, 1.454, 264, 9
16, 74, GONZALEZ Andres, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’43.820, 2.080, 262, 7
17, 32, MORAIS Sheridan, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’43.908, 2.168, 262, 9
18, 24, TACCINI Leonardo, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’44.491, 2.751, 267, 8
19, 64, BUIS Jeffrey, Kawasaki ZX-6R, 1’46.086, 4.346, 266, 8
20, 57, PETRATTI Matias, Yamaha YZF R6, 1’46.403, 4.663, 262, 6

The Superpole of WorldSBK

After three best times in the first 3 sessions, Razgatlioglu was of course the big favourite for the Superpole. It was also the Turk who topped the ranking after the first five minutes. Behind Rea, Lowes, Gerloff and Bassani. A little later, Locatelli set the third-best time for the time being and shortly after halfway through qualifying, Redding was fastest. After that, both Rea and Toprak failed in their attempt to undercut the Ducati rider’s time. The reigning world champion even fell back to P5 in the end, when Bassani and Lowes were able to beat their time from the first stint. This means that no Kawasaki will start the first run in the afternoon from the front row, and the Greens will have to tackle the first two races from row two.

Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with BRIXX) as World Championship leader, he is now the clear favourite for the title with 24 points ahead of Rea, which he underlined with three best times in the first 3 free practice sessions. In the Superpole, however, Scott Redding on the Ducati was faster than the Yamaha rider.

Das Resultat der Superpole mit der Startaufstellung

P, No, Rider, Bike, Time(,Gap), km/h, Laps
1, 45, REDDING Scott, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’37.617, , 312, 6
2, 54, RAZGATLIOGLU Toprak, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’37.800, 0.183, 309, 5
3, 47, BASSANI Axel, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’37.838, 0.221, 310, 7
4, 22, LOWES Alex, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’38.034, 0.417, 308, 5
5, 1, REA Jonathan, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’38.092, 0.475, 310, 6
6, 55, LOCATELLI Andrea, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’38.221, 0.604, 309, 5
7, 60, VAN DER MARK Michael, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’38.298, 0.681, 307, 5
8, 31, GERLOFF Garrett, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’38.337, 0.720, 310, 6
9, 21, RINALDI Michael Ruben, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’38.342, 0.725, 316, 6
10, 91, HASLAM Leon, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’38.456, 0.839, 312, 7
11, 32, VINALES Isaac, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’38.506, 0.889, 303, 6
12, 50, LAVERTY Eugene, BMW M 1000 RR, 1’38.517, 0.900, 310, 6
13, 7, DAVIES Chaz, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’38.592, 0.975, 313, 5
14, 36, MERCADO Leandro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’38.669, 1.052, 302, 3
15, 19, BAUTISTA Alvaro, Honda CBR1000 RR-R, 1’38.860, 1.243, 316, 5
16, 76, CAVALIERI Samuele, Ducati Panigale V4 R, 1’38.902, 1.285, 308, 6
17, 3, NOZANE Kohta, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’39.328, 1.711, 303, 6
18, 53, RABAT Tito, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’39.516, 1.899, 309, 8
19, 23, PONSSON Christophe, Yamaha YZF R1, 1’40.972, 3.355, 303, 6
20, 4, RIBODINO Luciano, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’41.915, 4.298, 299, 6
21, 39, SOLORZA Marco, Kawasaki ZX-10RR, 1’42.494, 4.877, 287, 6

First row of the grid with Toprak Razgatlioglu (Yamaha, P2), pole sitter Scott Redding (Ducati) and third-placed Motocorsa Racing Ducati driver Axel Bassani as the best private driver in qualifying.

The interviews after qualifying
Axel Bassani emphasized that he was happy with his front row and that he and his team were happy about it. But the most important thing is the race, and of course he is looking forward to it very much. Razgatlioglu said he had tried to get into pole position, but now he has to be satisfied with P2. But now he wanted to try to finish the 1st run first, and then he turned his back on the microphone again. Scott Redding was very satisfied, especially after his crash in FP3 in the morning, he had slightly adjusted his riding style and this had definitely proven itself. It is always good to start from the very beginning, and now he is hoping for a similarly successful first race in the afternoon.

Leandro Mercado (MIE Honda) ahead of Michael van der Mark (BMW) and in the background Jonathan Rea (Kawasaki) and Leon Haslam (HRC Honda) – the fast Argentine remained below his expectations at his home event on Friday and in qualifying.

WorldSBK San Juan schedule

The Circuito de San Juan

>WSBK San Juan Preview see separate report on this page.

Unless otherwise mentioned, applies to all images (© WorldSBK).