Argentina WSBK: Razgatlioglu smashes lap record to take pole

Having been the quickest rider throughout practice, Razgatlioglu was again the man to beat in qualifying as he outclassed title rivals Jonathan Rea and Alvaro Bautista to claim his third pole position of the 2022 season.

The Turkish rider was quick out of the blocks in the 20-minute session, diving straight into the 1m36s bracket to set a new circuit record at the Argentine venue.

The 1m37.687s lap he posted in his first run was more than half a second quicker than what he managed in third practice earlier on Saturday, and put him three tenths clear of both Loris Baz and Jonathan Rea at the halfway point of the session.

There were major improvements across the board when the riders returned on track for the final minutes of qualifying, with Bautista first to dethrone Razgatlioglu on the factory Ducati with a time of 1m36.671s.

Rea was the next rider on a quick lap and found a huge chunk of time compared to his first run, taking provisional pole by two tenths of a second.

However, Razgatlioglu left his best for the last and, having crossed the line seconds before the chequered flag was dropped, he was able to secure his first pole position since Assen in April with a time of 1m36.216s.

The record-setting lap was over two tenths quicker than what Rea managed on his Kawasaki, with Bautista finishing a similar margin behind in third, as the three championship protagonists locked out the front row yet again in WSBK.

Iker Lecuona put in a strong performance aboard the factory Honda to set the fourth-quickest time, albeit seven tenths down on Razgatlioglu, while BMW also enjoyed a positive showing as Scott Redding qualified fifth on the factory M1000RR ahead of the satellite Bonovo bike of Baz.

Baz had a late tumble but was able to remount on the bike, finishing 0.004s clear of the next independent rider in the order, Axel Bassani on the Motocorsa Ducati.

The top 10 was completed by  Ducati rider Michael Ruben Rinaldi, Kawasaki’s Alex Lowes and the Honda of Xavi Vierge, with Lowes dropping down the order from fourth to ninth after failing to improve on his first run.

Both Andrea Locatelli (Yamaha) and Michael van der Mark (BMW) missed out on a spot inside the first three rows on their respective factory bikes, ending up 11th and 14th respectively.

Argentina WSBK - Qualifying results:

Cla	#	Rider	Bike	Time	Gap
1	1	Toprak Razgatlioglu	Yamaha	1'36.216
2	65	Jonathan Rea	Kawasaki	1'36.449	0.233
3	19	Alvaro Bautista	Ducati	1'36.671	0.455
4	7	Iker Lecuona	Honda	1'36.953	0.737
5	45	Scott Redding	BMW	1'36.974	0.758
6	76	Loris Baz	BMW	1'37.027	0.811
7	47	Axel Bassani	Ducati	1'37.031	0.815
8	21	Michael Ruben Rinaldi	Ducati	1'37.066	0.850
9	22	Alex Lowes	Kawasaki	1'37.122	0.906
10	97	Xavi Vierge	Honda	1'37.159	0.943
11	55	Andrea Locatelli	Yamaha	1'37.347	1.131
12	31	Garrett Gerloff	Yamaha	1'37.399	1.183
13	44	Lucas Mahias	Kawasaki	1'37.634	1.418
14	60	Michael van der Mark	BMW	1'37.770	1.554
15	12	Xavi Fores	Ducati	1'37.908	1.692
16	3	Kohta Nozane	Yamaha	1'38.108	1.892
17	5	Philipp Oettli	Ducati	1'38.149	1.933
18	50	Eugene Laverty	BMW	1'38.153	1.937
19	36	Leandro Mercado	Honda	1'38.184	1.968
20	52	Oliver Konig	Kawasaki	1'38.683	2.467
21	27	Maximilian Scheib	Honda	1'39.225	3.009
22	39	Marco Solorza	Kawasaki	1'40.750	4.534
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