Yamaha’s Toprak Razgatlioglu converted his dominant free practice pace to claim victory in the opening Argentinean WorldSBK race by over five seconds.
Jonathan Rea maintained his title hunting position in second after a challenging start to the weekend, with Aruba Ducati’s Michael Ruben Rinaldi completing the podium celebrations in third.
Saturday’s final race saw Scott Redding command the grid ahead of 21 laps around the 4.3km circuit. Championship leader Razgatlioglu sat second with his main rival Rea starting fifth - aboard his retro liveried ZX-10 in celebration of Kawasaki’s 125th anniversary.
A lightning start promoted Rea up to second as Redding crashed out at the opening corner. Alex Lowes showcasing his own special ‘Top Gun’ paint job with a similarly impressive start, to trail his teammate in third for the opening lap.
A trio of Italians ran fourth to sixth as Axel Bassani headed Andrea Locatelli and Rinaldi in the second group. Michael van der Mark, Leon Haslam, Eugene Laverty and Alvaro Bautista rounded out the early top 10.
Razgatlioglu held a one-second lead with two laps dispatched. Bautista the next rider to crash, with Isaac Viñales following suit shortly after.
Bassani got the better of Lowes on lap three, after the pair battled for half a lap. The Motocorsa Ducati staking his claim on the podium after an equally impressive qualifying performance.
Laverty was making moves further back as he advanced on Haslam for eighth, the Irishman circulating two seconds back from his BMW teammate as the Dutchman looked to gain his own advantage on Rinaldi for sixth.
Lowes was reeling in Bassani as the race reached a third’s distance, three-tenths separating the pair as further back Rinaldi got the better of Locatelli down the back straight for fifth.
A regrouped Redding was making his way back towards the points after restarting from the back of the pack. The Ducati rider running 15th by lap eighth and one-second to bridge to Kohta Nozane ahead. Laverty, however, was heading in the opposite direction as both Garrett Gerloff and Haslam demoted the BMW back to the edge of the top 10.
The lead was a dominant four seconds by the halfway stage, Bassani a further three seconds behind Rea as the race leaders each ran a strong but solo race. The Italian, however, was soon under threat. Rinaldi swooping through on both Lowes and Bassani to capture third with 10 laps to go.
Redding was up to 13th on the 13th lap, the Brit powering through to the top 10 two laps later as he outpaced Chaz Davies, Samuele Cavalieri and Laverty.
Lowes continued to challenge Bassani for fourth as the race counted down, five laps left to find a way through with the Italian frustrating the Brit’s progress, despite the Kawasaki’s dominant pace.
Four to go and Lowes finally made the move stick at turn eight, the four-second gap ahead, however, preventing any further progress in the standings. Gerloff challenged Locatelli for seventh with the American promoted next time around as Redding continued his own advance, to ninth shortly after.
It was a family affair further back as Davies and Laverty squabbled for 13th, Tito Rabat sitting 12th before Cavalieri ran off track and dropped behind the trio to 14th.
Razgatlioglu celebrated his birthday by meeting the flag with a five-second lead from Rea and Rinaldi, Lowes maintaining fourth from Bassani, van der Mark, Gerloff and Locatelli.
An impressive comeback saw Redding cross the line in ninth, the Ducati rider rueing what might have been as his title hopes faded, Haslam completing the top 10 on the solo point-scoring Honda.
