Team HRC hard at work in Argentina

On the pace through the first half of the lap, Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam 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, riders Leon Haslam and Alvaro Bautista rounding out day one in tenth and eleventh place respectively.

The two factory riders were 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. Both Haslam and Bautista worked with their respective 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, just ahead of his British team-mate, eleventh with a 1’39.984.

As is often the case, times began to drop during the afternoon’s second session, also considering that the track conditions were gradually improving. Both Team HRC riders were able to improve significantly on their earlier references, Bautista setting a best of 1’39.284 to position eleventh overall, Haslam just over a tenth ahead of him in tenth place thanks to a fastest time of 1’39.177. The pair 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 their best to score a solid qualifying position during the Superpole.