1st and 2nd in Practice 1, 1st and 2nd in Practice 2 – it doesn’t get any better than that for Aprilia Racing as Day 1 at the Gran Premio Michelin® de la República Argentina belonged to the Noale factory. Ending Friday on top was Aleix Espargaro after the 2022 Termas race winner got the better of teammate and P1 pacesetter Maverick Viñales in the afternoon, while Portuguese GP podium finisher Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) claimed P3 just ahead of teammate Luca Marini.
Reigning Champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) ended the day in sixth and may be glad the fight for an automatic place in Q2 is already over, but his predecessor Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) likely wished for another shot at it. El Diablo ends Day 1 in P14, with teammate Franco Morbidelli up in ninth and moving through.
With rain threatening to disrupt proceedings in Termas de Rio Hondo, the final 10 minutes of P1 were hectic as riders chased that all-important top 10. A late lap from Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) placed the Japanese star in 4th, with Alex Marquez (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) going well again in 5th.
World Championship leader Bagnaia squeezed into the top 10 in P10, but Quartararo was already struggling even more ahead of the afternoon final shootout.
There was one crash to report – Alex Rins (LCR Honda Castrol) tucked the front of his RC213V at Turn 1. The Spaniard was perfectly ok.
It wasn’t until the final 20 minutes that plenty of movement lit up the timesheets in Practice 2, as Jorge Martin (Prima Pramac Racing) pounced to demote Viñales to second after the latter produced a dominant performance in Practice 1. On his second flying lap, Martin moved the goalposts further as his 1:39.092 became the time to beat, and Nakagami climbed to P3.
With all eyes focused on grabbing a top 10 spot ahead of Saturday morning’s qualifying, Practice 2 lit up. Aleix Espargaro set a new benchmark as Viñales slotted into P2, 0.009s off his teammate, before Bagnaia then went top of the pile with a 1:38.969. Then, Viñales was back at the summit – but not for long. Bezzecchi was now the pacesetter, with teammate Marini taking over as third fastest.
With 10 minutes to go, Quartararo was in P13 and 0.9s off the top. By three minutes to go, he was still outside the cut off. In contrast, Viñales found an extra dose of pace and went back to the top, but his stablemate made sure that didn’t last long. Aleix Espargaro set a 1:38.518 to beat Viñales by 0.162s. Quartararo still remained outside the top 10 with seconds to go, and that’s where he stayed.
Behind the top three, Marini bounced back from a difficult opening weekend with a solid Friday P4 in Termas de Rio Hondo, with Johann Zarco (Prima Pramac Racing) rounding out the top five. Reigning World Champion Bagnaia settled for P6, 0.4s off Espargaro, with Martin, Nakagami, an upbeat Morbidelli and Rins acting as the final automatic entrants to Q2 on Saturday morning in P7, P8, P9 and P10 respectively.
Alongside Rins’ Turn 1 crash in Practice 1, reigning Moto2™ World Champion Augusto Fernandez (GASGAS Factory Racing Tech3) was unhurt in a Practice 2 Turn 1 crash.
Some big hitters will be battling it out in Q1, including 2020 World Champion Joan Mir (Repsol Honda Team), Red Bull KTM Factory Racing duo Brad Binder and Jack Miller, Alex Marquez, and Quartararo. Don’t miss qualifying on Saturday morning, it’s going to be a barnstormer.
So that’s it from Friday in Argentina. An intriguing day to say the least as the second installment of the Tissot Sprint fast approaches. Can Quartararo bounce back from a difficult day? Who will get themselves into the pole position shootout? Free Practice starts at 10:10 local time (GMT-3), before qualifying from 10:50. Then, it’s lights out and away we Sprint at 15:00!
MotoGP Top 3 – Combined Practice – Argentina GP
1. Aleix ESPARGARO – SPA – Aprilia Racing – 1:38.518
2. Maverick VIÑALES – SPA – Aprilia Racing – +0.162
3. Marco BEZZECCHI – ITA – Mooney VR46 Racing Team – +0.249
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