Raffaele de Rosa stays 0.292 thousandths from victory in Argentine

The win went to Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in Race 1 on Saturday.

Caricasulo took the lead in the race after starting from the center of the front row and overtaking poleman Aegerter at the second corner. The Italian settled into that position, commanding a front group made up almost entirely of Italians, with Raffaele De Rosa, Stefano Manzi (Dynavolt Triumph) and Nicoló Bulega (Aruba.it Racing WorldSSP Team), with defending champion Aegerter sandwiched between them.

On lap five, De Rosa took over at the front of the group while a little further back Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team) fought to join the front fight. Halfway through the race, Caricasulo attacked De Rosa and momentarily regained first position, but the Orelac team driver took the lead again, trying to set the pace of the race by setting the fastest lap.

With De Rosa holding his strong pace, chased by less than a second by Caricasulo and Aegerter, the fight for victory was reduced to these three men. The Althea Racing driver lost his options when drawing through a dirty spot on the asphalt and brushing the fall. The set left the battle in a heads up between Aegerter and De Rosa. The Swiss launched his attack on the final lap and stayed ahead of him to score his 14th win of the year, equaling Jules Cluzel's 24 wins in the championship.

De Rosa came in at 0.292s to score his 19th WorldSSP podium finish and Caricasulo did it 2'4sec later to score his 24th podium finish in the category.

De Rosa was on his way to victory when a crash prevented him from succeeding in the second race of the weekend. As in Saturday's race, Federico Caricasulo (Althea Racing) took the lead in the race, although he was soon overtaken by his compatriots Raffaele De Rosa (Orelac Racing VerdNatura) and Lorenzo Baldassarri (Evan Bros. WorldSSP Yamaha Team). The transalpine trio set the pace in a very tight pack, with Niki Tuuli (MV Agusta Reparto Corse) and Dominique Aegerter (Ten Kate Racing Yamaha) in the following positions. De Rosa kept up a strong pace at the front of the pack until he made a mistake on lap 11 and crashed at Turn 9. The Neapolitan driver returned to the track but had to retire shortly after.