Friday

Sixteenth for Mahias in free practice in Argentina

The two free practices making up day one of this tenth Superbike World Championship played out today at the San Juan Villicum circuit in Argentina. This is the first time Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Lucas Mahias is riding a superbike at the South American track and so the Frenchman used Friday to get reacquainted with the track and work on the setup of his ZX-10R.
In the morning’s first practice, Mahias set a 1’39”410 to finish fourteenth. In the afternoon’s sessions, Lucas lapped just one thousandth of a second slower (1’39”411), rounding out day one in sixteenth place in the combined standings.
Tomorrow he will take part in the final practice followed by Superpole and Race 1.

San Juan Villicum Circuit – Argentina – Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Rea (Kawasaki) – 3) Bautista (Ducati) – 4) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 5) Locatelli (Yamaha) ……. 16) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Lucas Mahias “I’d never ridden a superbike at this track before and I have to say that it wasn’t easy to find the references I need. I like the track, but there are sectors where I’m not as fast as I’d like to be and so I’m working with my team to improve. It will be important to exploit tomorrow morning’s practice too if we want to do well in Superpole and secure a good grid position for race 1.”

Oncu’s weekend gets off to a good start, while Montella learns the track

Kawasaki Puccetti Racing is at the San Juan Villicum circuit in Argentina for round ten of the Supersport World Championship. While Can Oncu knows the track well, so much so that he was on the podium twice last year (second and third), this is Yari Montella’s first visit to the Argentinian track, something that of course conditioned his performance today.
In the first session that took place in sunny conditions, the young Turkish rider placed second with a time of 1’42”457, while the Italian, slowed by a small technical setback, stopped the clock on1’44”510 to finish seventeenth.
The second practice played out in the afternoon. Oncu didn’t manage to improve (1’42”563) and rounded out day one in fourth place overall in the combined standings. Montella was able to improve on his earlier time and moved into sixteenth overall with a best of 1’43”915.
Tomorrow’s WorldSSP schedule will see riders competing in Superpole and the weekend’s first race.

Circuito San Juan Villicum – Argentina – Supersport World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Caricasulo (Ducati) – 3) Cluzel (Yamaha) – 4) Oncu (Kawasaki) – 5) De Rosa (Ducati) – 6) Manzi (Triumph)……… 16) Montella (Kawasaki)

Can Oncu “The day’s been positive. I think we’ve done a good job. There are still some things we need to improve, and we’ll try to do that tomorrow morning. I’m optimistic going into the weekend because this is one of my favourite tracks. I can’t wait for the race to start because I have a good feeling with my bike and I’ll do all I can to reach the highest step of the podium. Thanks to the team for their important help.”

Yari Montella “Aside from the overall position, it’s not been a bad day. This is a brand-new track for me and unfortunately this morning we also had a technical issue that caused me to lose half the session. This afternoon I tried to push a bit and made a few mistakes, but I’ve understood a lot about the track and my bike. Now we know where to intervene to improve. A big thanks to the team.”

Saturday

Mahias is just outside the top ten in WorldSBK Race One in Argentina

The second day of the tenth WorldSBK round played out today at the San Juan Villicum Circuit in Argentina. Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider Lucas Mahias finished yesterday’s free practices in seventeenth place, but in this morning’s third and final practice the Frenchman improved on his time to close fifteenth with a 1’38”422.
In Superpole Lucas significantly lowered his time once more to qualify thirteenth with a 1’37”634, which meant a fifth row start for the first of the Argentinian weekend’s races, which took place this afternoon.
Lucas made a very strong start and was immediately up into twelfth place. Battling as part of the chasing group, Mahias maintained a strong pace and climbed to eleventh, a position he held to the line, just missing out on the top and earning another five championship points.
Lucas will return to the track tomorrow for the Superpole Race and the second and final WorldSBK race.

Circuito San Juan Villicum – Argentina – Superbike World Championship
Combined free practice results: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Bautista (Ducati) – 3) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 4) Lecuona (Honda) – 5) Rea (Kawasaki) ……. 15) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Superpole: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Rea (Kawasaki) – 3) Bautista (Ducati) – 4) Lecuona (Honda) – 5) Redding (BMW) – 6) Baz (BMW) …… 13) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Race 1: 1) Bautista (Ducati) – 2) Rea (Kawasaki) – 3) Bassani (Ducati) – 4) Lecuona (Honda) – 5) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 6) Lowes (Kawasaki) …… 11) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Lucas Mahias “A good race. I’m not totally satisfied with the result but, considering my starting position and my results in practice, we’ll take it. It wasn’t an easy race, but I was able to maintain a good pace and manage the tyres. We also collected some important data relating to the electronics and we’ll try to exploit that in the next races, starting tomorrow. I want to thank the team for that, and for all their hard work so far this weekend.”

Oncu makes up twelve positions to almost reach the podium and Montella finishes eighth 

The tenth round of the Supersport World Championship continued today with Superpole and Race 1 at the San Juan Villicum in Argentina. Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders Can Oncu and Yari Montella had very different experiences yesterday. The Turk immediately proved competitive at this track, finishing free practice in fourth place, while Montella, who is competing at the circuit for the first time, concluded the sessions in sixteenth position.
Both were back out this morning for Superpole, which established the grid positions for the two races. It was an unlucky session for Oncu, who crashed in the final stages of the session and was unable to continue. With a time of 1’42”126, the Turkish rider qualified fourteenth, followed by Montella (1’42”541), sixteenth. Results that meant that Oncu started from the fifth row and Montella from the sixth for the afternoon’s race, which ran in sunny conditions.
The two riders made a strong start, immediately making up some positions. Through the first laps, Oncu was ninth just ahead of team-mate Montella. The pair continued to make up ground and by mid-race, the Turk was already up into fifth place while the Italian was in ninth. With very strong race pace, Can crossed the line fourth and Yari eighth.
In the championship standings Oncu is third with 207 points while Montella places seventh with 114.
Tomorrow will see the riders back out on track for the second and final race of this tenth WorldSSP round.

Circuito San Juan Villicum – Argentina – Supersport World Championship
Superpole: 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Caricasulo (Ducati) – 3) De Rosa (Ducati) – 4) Baldassarri (Yamaha) – 5) Tuuli (MV Agusta)…..14) Oncu (Kawasaki)……16) Montella (Kawasaki)

Race 1 – 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) De Rosa (Ducati) – 3) Caricasulo (Ducati) – 4) Oncu (Kawasaki) – 5) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 6) Cluzel (Yamaha) – 7) Manzi (Triumph) – 8) Montella (Kawasaki)

Can Oncu “A race conditioned by my starting position. I got away well and pushed to the max from start to finish, remaining focused, which allowed me to make up twelve positions. By the team I got to the front of my group, the front three were unreachable and so I had to settle for fourth place. We’ll try again tomorrow. Thanks to my technicians for providing me with such a competitive bike.”

Yari Montella “It was a good race. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to exploit my laps in Superpole and so had to start from further back. I made a strong start to the race and made up many places. For tomorrow we’ll improve something on the bike but the important thing will be to give it our all and score a good result. I want to thank my team as they’ve done an amazing job on my bike.”

Sunday

Mahias reaches the points zone in WorldSBK Race Two

The San Juan Villicum circuit in Argentina today staged the Superpole Race and second Superbike race making up round ten of the Superbike World Championship. Kawasaki Puccetti Racing rider, Frenchman Lucas Mahias, qualified thirteenth in yesterday’s Superpole, before scoring a solid eleventh place finish in Race 1.
In the Superpole Race, Mahias lined up on the fifth row of the grid. After making a good start, Lucas suffered from a drop in rear grip, which forced him to slow his pace and settle for eighteenth across the line.
Race 2 ran in the afternoon. Mahias started strong when the lights went out, moving up into the group battling for the points zone. Unfortunately, in the hot temperatures, the tyres didn’t offer optimum grip, but Lucas was nevertheless able to finish fifteenth, scoring one championship point.
The next Superbike World Championship round will run on 11-13 November at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in Indonesia.

Circuito San Juan Villicum – Argentina – Superbike World Championship
Superpole Race: 1) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 2) Bautista (Ducati) – 3) Rea (Kawasaki) – 4) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 5) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 6) Lecuona (Honda) …… 18) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Race 2: 1) Bautista (Ducati) – 2) Razgatlioglu (Yamaha) – 3) Rea (Kawasaki) – 4) Lowes (Kawasaki) – 5) Rinaldi (Ducati) – 6) Lecuona (Honda) ……… 15) Mahias (Kawasaki)

Lucas Mahias “Today’s races were both very difficult. Today was hotter than yesterday and the rear tyre didn’t have the necessary grip. I just tried not to make any mistakes and finish the races as well as I could. I’m not satisfied the results we’ve scored, but in these conditions it was difficult to do more. Thanks to the team, they’ve done a great job as always, and now we’ll try to make up for this weekend in Indonesia.”

Oncu climbs to seventh. Montella crashes.

The tenth round of the Supersport World Championship concluded today at the San Juan Villicum Circuit in Argentina. Yesterday, in race one, Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders Can Oncu and Yari Montella showed all their potential when both were forced to play catch-up, the Turk finishing fourth and the Italian eighth.
The Superpole results meant that, like yesterday, Oncu started from row five of the grid and Montella from the sixth in today’s race, which ran in sunny conditions.
Both Kawasaki Puccetti Racing riders made a good start as the lights went out. Oncu moved into tenth place and Montella thirteenth. The pair had to push hard to make up as many places as possible and unfortunately, during the course of lap three, Montella fell victim to a crash, which forced him to retire. Oncu, in difficulty with the rear grip, stuck with the leading group and was able to climb as far as seventh. A solid performance from the Turk, considering that he started from sixteenth on the grid.
In the championship standings Oncu retains third place with 216 points, while Montella is eighth with 114.
The next Supersport World Championship round will take place on 11-13 November at the Pertamina Mandalika International Street Circuit in Indonesia.

Circuito San Juan Villicum – Argentina – Supersport World Championship
Race 2 – 1) Aegerter (Yamaha) – 2) Caricasulo (Ducati) – 3) Baldassarri (Yamaha) – 4) Tuuli (MV Agusta) – 5) Manzi (Triumph) – 6) Cluzel (Yamaha) 7) Oncu (Kawasaki)……. DNF) Montella (Kawasaki)

Can Oncu “Compared to yesterday, temperatures were higher today, and I didn’t have the same rear grip. I started strong and was able to stick with the front group, but in the end I couldn’t do more than seventh. I’ll settle for the points scored, which allow me to retain third in the standings, and I thank my team for their amazing support.”

Yari Montella “When you start further back and have to play catch-up, there’s always a level of risk, and this time I was unlucky and it went badly. I ran long through a corner and as I tried to correct that I crashed. Unfortunately, the bike was damaged and so I couldn’t continue. I’m really sorry because I could have scored points for the championship, but above all I’m sorry for the team after all their hard work. I’ll try to make up for it at the next Mandalika round.”