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The MOTUL FIM Superbike World Championship paddock returned to the Circuito San Juan Villicum and while the headline times on Friday at the Motul Argentinean Round belonged to Toprak Razgatlioglu (Pata Yamaha with Brixx WorldSBK), Ducati riders were making their own headlines by locking out four of the top seven spots with Scott Redding (Aruba.it Racing – Ducati) and teammate Michael Ruben Rinaldi second and fourth respectively, while two other Independent riders on Ducati machinery were sixth and seventh with Chaz Davies (Team GoEleven) and Axel Bassani (Motocorsa Racing) respectively.

Redding was the closest competitor to Razgatlioglu in the combined Friday standings as he finished 0.246s away from the Championship leader after posting a 1’38.118s, while Rinaldi claimed fourth place, three tenths back from his teammate despite still feeling the effects of his crash last time out at Portimao. Redding also completed the most laps of everybody in the two sessions, racking up 44, while Rinaldi added 38 to the team’s total after a productive Friday for the factory Ducati outfit.

Discussing his findings from Friday and whether he could challenge Razgatlioglu, Redding said: “Toprak’s fast, but I managed to close him down quite a lot at the end which kind of helped me a bit and it gives me a day to digest it. It gives Giovanni a day to look at a few things and sort it out; normally I change two or three things, but we’ve already modified six or seven things because, you know, there may be ten small things that make the difference for tomorrow. For me, I’m always going to be making small steps; the race will be interesting because I’ll be able to see a little bit what the other guys are doing, I know my opposition aren’t going to let me follow them because they know I can be fast. I’ll get stuck into it; I’ll keep plugging away in the race… I’ll try and win the last race or maybe the Superpole Race because the first race is going to be a lot of learning for me, but I am in a podium fight for a win, then I’ve got no choice but to get stuck in there. It makes my life a little bit easier when learning a track because if the bike is struggling and I’ve got to learn a track, it is hard. But if the bike’s working not too badly, it allows me to ride it in quite a good way and you’re riding well. It just means that the other Ducati guys are going to be keeping me honest.”

Rinaldi admitted he had some work to do but is aiming for a podium during his first visit to San Juan Villicum as a factory Ducati rider. He said: “I think this is a good track for us. I really enjoy this track and it’s much better than two years ago. I really had fun. I think tomorrow the track can be even better because the bikes are out. Today was quite positive for us. I will try to fight for the podium. We have to work a little bit more because I don’t have the pace at the moment for the podium, but we are close. When you are close, you can work and find some tenths over the circuit. Tomorrow, it will be important to make a little improvement because everybody is there except Toprak who, I think, has a better pace than everybody else. Jonny has crashed so we don’t know his potential. Everything will count for the race.”

Redding and Rinaldi were not the only two fast Ducati riders on Friday with Davies and Bassani made it four inside the top seven, and only one Ducati outside the top ten. Davies and Bassani were also the top two Independent riders, with Davies returning from injury while Bassani continues his impressive run of form.

Discussing Ducati’s chances, and the potential for collaboration between the Ducati riders, Davies said: “I was happy with the job today and the way that the bike’s doing. I just felt a little bit frustrated with myself because I know there’s a bit more in it, but I’m just not connected to the bike as well as I should be. Nobody at the top of the pile though but that’s where we all want to be! We’ll see. Maybe between us all tonight, we can pull all the data and see if we can all take a step forward tomorrow.”

For Bassani, he outlined his targets after a strong Friday for the rookie, saying: “I felt good from the first practice but in the second practiced, we improved a lot. I’m very happy the work we did with the team. I will try to take a top five. For me, now, it’s possible but all the riders are every strong, so we try to stay focussed on our job and try to do the best.”

Watch all the action from San Juan Villicum on Saturday starting with Free Practice 3 from 10:00 Local Time (GMT-3) using the WorldSBK VideoPass!