San Juan Villicum Round

Last weekend, the first grand prize was held at the new San Juan Villicum circuit located in Argentina. After Jonathan Rea won the championship in the last match, the KRT team returned to the limelight this weekend.

On Friday, all the WorldSBK riders rolled for the first time on this new circuit. The current champion proved to be in top form, being the fastest on the track and scoring a fast lap of 1'39.914. He was the only driver to get to roll in 1'39 during the first day. On the other hand, Sykes was left without improving his time at the end of FP3 due to a misunderstanding in the tire change, a fact that would force him to play the Superpole 1 to make a gap between the first positions of the grid.
In general, the feeling of the new layout was positive. All the pilots agreed that as it was rolled on the track, the asphalt of the circuit was accommodated and allowed the times to improve progressively.

In the first race that was disputed on Saturday at 16:00 local time, Jonathan Rea once again demonstrated his deserved title taking the ninth consecutive victory this year. In this way, secured the championship of manufacturers for Kawasaki proclaiming champion in turn. Rea left from the second position took distance at the beginning and was placed first marking fast lap and ending with an advantage of 9,163 seconds over the second classified, Marco Melandri. On the other hand, Tom Sykes started the race in fourth position, making a good start and was placed in third place until the fifth lap where some riders overtook him, including Toprak Razgatlioglu who took the podium. Sykes finished sixth, however, the pace of his last laps was greater than that of his rivals but the checkered flag fell and he could not improve his position.

After winning the Manufacturers' Championship for the fourth time in a row, in the race on Sunday Jonathan Rea continued making history winning the tenth consecutive race of the season. Rea used all his skill to overcome his rivals and thus achieve an undisputed victory more. Sykes was defiant against his rivals and after running competitively, he finished in fifth place.

With three more matches to go until this 2018 season, we can only hope that Kawasaki will continue to make history.