Aruba.it Ducati's Scott Redding ran away with the final WorldSBK race in Argentina as the Aruba.it Ducati claimed the victory over two seconds clear.
Jonathan Rea and Toprak Razgatlioglu battled hard for the remaining podium positions as they extended their ultimate championship fight to next month’s final round in Indonesia by taking second and third respectively.
The final race of the weekend got underway one rider down as Alex Lowes was declared unfit due to his ongoing wrist injury. Leon Haslam granted a promotion onto the back of the third row due to the Kawasaki’s absence.
Razgatlioglu maintained his pole position thanks to his morning race win, with Redding and Rea joining him on the front row as the lights released the pack for the 21-lap battle. The KRT rider running 34-points down on his title rival as he psyched himself up for the start.
Rea was running second as the race began before the R1 ran wide allowing the Ninja through. The advantage was short-lived, however, as Razgatlioglu hit back almost immediately, Redding joining the fight as the second lap played out with the trio inseparable at its conclusion.
Rea took charge once again due to another mistake from Toprak at turn eight, Axel Bassani bettering his fellow Ducati for third shortly after as too he began to take a look at Razgatlioglu ahead.
The Yamaha was back in front through turn 10 next time around. The quartet running almost a second clear of the rest of the pack as Michael van der Mark headed the second group.
The positions shuffled then shuffled again as lap four fired up. Rea taking the lead before being dropped to third as Redding came back through to second and the championship leader returned to the front.
It was the Ducati who led down the back straight before he ran wide and let the R1 capitalise once again, Rea and Bassani bickering for the final podium position before Redding dropped back and Rea briefly hit the front.
Bassani began to fade slightly as the race neared third-distance, the top three covered by a mere three-tenths as Razgatlioglu returned to the lead and van der Mark and Michael Ruben Rinaldi began to home in on the Motocorsa Panigale.
Redding was on a charge with 13 laps to go, the Ducati powering down the straight before failing to get it stopped into turn eight with the Yamaha capitalising, the move replicated more successfully next time around as the number 45 finally took the lead.
Mid-race found Redding breaking a gap out front, seven-tenths now separating him from his two rivals with Rea defending from a revitalised Bassani for the final podium place.
Further back Chaz Davies was progressing into the top 10, the Go Eleven Ducati displacing Haslam’s Honda as he began to reel in Garrett Gerloff for eighth. Andrea Locatelli running a seemingly solo race, in seventh, a second and a half behind the BMW of van der Mark.
A fastest race lap cemented Redding’s dominance on lap 13, over two seconds now the buffer to the battling duo behind. Bassani having drifted back from the fight ahead as once again the hard moves played out between the title rivals.
Rea was back in second with six to go, after cutting through on turns four and five to keep his championship hopes alive. Alvaro Bautista getting the better of his HRC teammate with three laps to go as he captured 10th from Haslam in the closing stages.
Redding met the flag with a two and a half second lead from Rea and Razgatlioglu. Bassani holding on for fourth by just four-tenths after a late-race-charge from Rinaldi with van der Mark completing the top six. Locatelli consolidated his seventh position from Gerloff and Davies with Bautista securing the top 10 from his teammate.
