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.”
