MotoGP Argentina, Termas de Rio Hondo – Warm-up Results

TIMES TO FOLLOW

Pole position time:
Aleix Espargaro SPA Aprilia 1m 37.688s

Official Termas de Rio Hondo MotoGP records:
Best lap:
Marc Marquez SPA Honda 1m 37.683s (2014)
Fastest race lap:
Valentino Rossi ITA Yamaha 1m 39.019s (2015)

Aleix Espargaro dominates an extended warm-up session for the 2022 Argentine MotoGP, held over 40 minutes (rather than the usual 20) following the loss of Friday’s track action due to freight delays.

Espargaro, who will start today’s race from Aprilia’s first pole position of the four-stroke era, was soon back in charge of the timesheets, running the hard front-soft rear tyre combination that is expected to be the favoured choice for the race.

The likes of Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami then moved ahead with soft tyres front and rear. But Espargaro, still on the hard front, responded to retake P1 by the midway stage with team-mate Maverick Vinales underlining how well the RS-GP is performing at this circuit in third.

Reigning champion Quartararo, starting sixth this afternoon, later switched to the hard front tyre but was unable to dislodge Espargaro, who goes into the race with an excellent chance of claiming his and Aprilia’s first ever MotoGP victory.

Suzuki’s Alex Rins snatched a late third ahead of Pramac Ducati’s Jorge Martin (starting second on the grid). Vinales kept his hopes alive for a best-yet Aprilia race in fifth.

After his Saturday nightmare, where he was left 13th on the grid, Francesco Bagnaia planned a setting change to try and better deal with the Termas de Rio Hondo bumps and was a competitive sixth.

Mandalika winner Miguel Oliveira (KTM), team-mate Brad Binder, LCR Honda’s FP1 leader Takaaki Nakagami and Martin’s team-mate Johann Zarco completed a top ten covered by less than half-a-second.

“4

Rookie Marco Bezzecchi jogged away from a fast accident at Turn 6 during the middle stages, with VR46 Ducati team-mate Luca Marini – who has qualified on the outside of the front row – also taking a tumble.

RNF Yamaha’s Darryn Binder was the fastest rookie this morning in a commendable 15th.

Bagnaia’s team-mate Jack Miller, starting 14th after a three-place penalty for ‘disturbing’ Quartararo in qualifying, was only 17th this morning.

Stefan Bradl, replacing Marc Marquez at Repsol Honda, completed the 24 riders all within 1.2s this morning.

“5

Marc Marquez, who suffered a new episode of double vision in the aftermath of his huge warm-up accident in Indonesia, is missing this weekend’s event and is replaced by HRC test rider Stefan Bradl.

After a medical check on Monday, Marquez’s Ophthalmologist Dr Sánchez Dalmau said there had been a “a very favourable evolution in the paralysis of the fourth right nerve affected by the fall that occurred at the Indonesian Grand Prix.”

But he added: “Recovery is not yet complete, and Marc Marquez must follow the established therapeutic regime with conservative treatment.”

“6

It is thus not yet known if Marquez will return for COTA next weekend, one of his most successful circuits, or re-join sometime during the European season, which begins in Portimao on April 22-24.

Fellow Honda rider Takaaki Nakagami also looked set to miss this weekend, after testing positive for Covid-19 and being unable to leave Japan. However, the cancellation of Friday combined with subsequent negative Covid results meant Nakagami was able to get to Termas in time for Saturday’s start.

MotoGP is returning to Termas de Rio Hondo for the first time since March 2019, with the event cancelled for the past two years due to the Covid pandemic. That also means the current ‘standard’ rear tyre construction, introduced in 2020, has not previously been used at the track.

“7

Sunday schedule

09:20-09:40 Moto3 Warm-up (13:20-13:40 UK)
09:50-10:10 Moto2 Warm-up (13:50-14:10 UK)
10:20-11:00 MotoGP Warm-up (14:20-15:00 UK)

12:00 Moto3 Race – 21 laps (16:00 UK)
13:20 Moto2 Race – 23 laps (15:20 UK)
15:00 MotoGP Race – 25 laps (19:00 UK)