Team HRC lands in Argentina for the penultimate WorldSBK round
Circuito San Juan VillicumThe 2021 Superbike World Championship has landed in Argentina, at the San Juan Villicum circuit, the stage for this weekend’s penultimate round of the season.
For Team HRC and riders Alvaro Bautista and Leon Haslam, the aim is to finish the year strong, building on the progress they have enjoyed over recent race weekends.
During the 2019 edition (the 2020 round was cancelled due to the global pandemic), Bautista played a starring role, achieving a win and a second-place finish across the weekend’s races. Haslam scored a best of sixth in race 1.
At this year’s latest round, which ran at the Portuguese track of Portimão just ten days ago, both riders were in the mix for the podium across all of the weekend’s three races, only bad luck keeping them from an eventual top three finish. The team will therefore approach the weekend in a similar fashion, working consistently and methodically right from Friday in order to best prepare for the races and strive to finish the season on a high.
Weekend schedule (CEST-5):
Friday
10.30 – 11.15 – SBK Free Practice 1
15.00 – 15.45 – SBK Free Practice 2
Saturday
10.00 – 10.30 – SBK Free Practice 3
12.10 – 12.25 – Superpole
15.00 – SBK Race 1
Sunday
10.00 – 10.15 – SBK Warm-up
12.00 – SBK Superpole race
15.00 – SBK Race 2
“I’m happy to go to Argentina, not only because I like the track but also because it is a signal that the global situation is improving as far as the pandemic is concerned. We might not be ‘back to normal’ yet but it’s a step forward. I have good memories of the track, having won there on my first visit two years ago. The layout is enjoyable because it offers a bit of everything, with some long corners, changes of direction and hard braking areas. It’s a challenging track for everyone and I’m looking forward to tackling it. We will adopt our usual approach, trying to start well already on Friday and keep up the good work we’ve been doing. I’m looking forward to further closing the gap and getting the best possible performance from our package.”
“I’ve raced in Argentina just once before, in 2019, and I actually had a crash on the first day, so it wasn’t the best weekend for me. Having said that, I love to go to new circuits and different countries so it’s definitely exciting to have an overseas race where we travel outside of Europe. Hopefully we can go there and enjoying both the racing and Argentina itself.”