Round 12 #ARGWorldSbk ARGENTINEAN ROUND
October 13, 2021
Round 12 #ARGWorldSbk SUPERPOLE & RACE 1
October 16, 2021
| On the pace through the first half of the lap, Alvaro Bautista struggle to maintain the same speed in the twisty final sector of the San Juan Villicum track. Split by just over one tenth of a second in the standings, they are working with the team to find the best set-up compromise for tomorrow. The penultimate round of the 2021 Superbike World Championship is now underway for Team HRC at the San Juan Villicum circuit in Argentina, rider Alvaro Bautista rounding out day one in eleventh place. The factory rider was out on what was quite a dirty track for free practice one this morning, a sandstorm yesterday afternoon having left the asphalt in a less than ideal condition. The entire Superbike field were faced with the same difficulties of course, and so riders made the best of the situation and quickly got down to work in the relatively cool but dry conditions. Bautista worked with his technicians to start adapting their CBR1000RR-R FIREBLADES to the South American track. A fastest time of 1’39.837, set in the final seconds, saw the Spaniard place ninth. As is often the case, times began to drop during the afternoon’s second session, also considering that the track conditions were gradually improving. Alvaro was able to improve significantly on his earlier reference, setting a best of 1’39.284 to position eleventh overall. Bautista plan to use tomorrow’s final practice to work on the bike set-up so as to try and be faster through the final two sectors of the track before doing his best to score a solid qualifying position during the Superpole. |
Alvaro Bautista #19
P 11
“Honestly, I expected to find the track in a much worse condition after yesterday’s sandstorm, but it actually wasn’t that bad. Obviously, this morning was worse than the afternoon but eventually it settled down. We have been trying to improve in the changes of direction because I lose a little grip and so am always a little late. And we want to pick up the pace especially through the second half of the track. In the second session, we made a few changes but we haven’t seen enough of an improvement yet. We hope to do so tomorrow, because we’re suffering a bit more here with respect to other tracks. Tomorrow we will try to get a little bit closer to the frontrunners“.
