Rea Fastest In Argentine Debut

Jonathan Rea made strong progress through the first three WorldSBK practice sessions at the all-new Autodromo de El Villicum circuit in San Juan, Argentina, setting a final lap time of 1’39.914. Rea was the only rider to get into the 1’39s today.

The 4.276km long El Villicum circuit has proved to be a popular venue already but having been so recently completed it is still bedding in and cleaning up with every passing track session. 

Dust on the track meant that the first laps were very much slower this morning in FP1 than the final ones in FP3, with many riders moving up the finishing order in the very last available minutes.

After Superpole qualifying on Saturday Rea will face a 21-lap opening race, which starts at 16.00, local time in Argentina. The second El Villicum race will take place at the same time on Sunday the 14thof October.

Jonathan Rea, stated: “It was really positive today and our bike has a good base set-up. Session-to-session I have asked my crew chief Pere not to change the bike set-up because as the track got more and more rubber on it we were going faster and faster without set-up changes. The most crucial factor was gearing. It is such a long straight here if you gear it for that then you are a little bit lazy everywhere else. The track is super-nice, very challenging and the last sector reminds me a little bit like Russia, the Moscow Circuit - tight and technical.”