Following last month’s season-opening Qatar GP, MotoGP heads to Argentina where Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) aims to repeat his superb 2016 victory, the first of five wins that carried him to his third MotoGP world title.

The five-times World Champion finished off the podium in Qatar, due to tricky weather conditions that had him make an unsuccessful gamble on tyre choice. Now the 24-year-old looks forward to the fast and technical Termas de Rio Hondo circuit where he aims to regain lost ground.

The Argentine track has been a happy hunting ground for Marquez since it joined the calendar in 2014. The Spaniard was victorious in the 2014 and 2016 events, while he was in the victory fight in 2015 before crashing out.

As the lone South American round on the MotoGP calendar the Argentine GP attracts a large and enthusiastic crowd to Termas de Rio Hondo in the northern province of Santiago del Estero, 1100 kilometres (700 miles) north west of Buenos Aires. The town, with a population of less than 30,000, enjoys something of a fiesta over the Grand Prix weekend, with its streets packed on Friday and Saturday nights.

Argentina has a longer history in MotoGP than any other non-European nation. In October 1961 the country hosted the first motorcycle Grand Prix outside Europe, at the Autodromo Juan y Oscar Galvez on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Australian Tom Phillis and his Honda RC144 twin took 125cc victory at the event to seal Honda’s second World Championship, just few weeks after Mike Hailwood had secured the 250cc title. The circuit hosted a total of nine GPs between 1961 and 1999, before MotoGP moved to Termas de Rio Hondo three years ago.

Marquez’s team-mate Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team RC213V) started the season with a fifth-place finish in Qatar, one place and less than a second behind the reigning World Champion. The 31-year-old Spaniard had been fast and consistent throughout preseason testing and looks forward to a stronger challenge this weekend after he took the same tyre gamble as Marquez in Qatar. Pedrosa’s Argentine GP record bodes well for the weekend. The former 125cc and 250cc World Champion has only raced twice at the track – he was absent in 2015 due to injury – and he finished on the podium on both occasions.

Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda RC213V) will be keen to reverse his fortunes after a tough start to the year in Qatar. The Briton had his best-ever MotoGP season last year and carried that momentum through preseason testing. He was also fast in free practice in Qatar, but tumbled out of the race. Termas de Hondo Rio has happy memories for the twice MotoGP winner: it was the scene of his first Honda podium finish in 2015.

Buoyed by his strongest MotoGP showing in the dry less than two weeks ago, Jack Miller (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) has shown he is ready to challenge for the top ten in his third season in the premier-class. The Australian finished a fantastic eighth in Qatar and, crucially, came home just 14 seconds behind the race winner, a clear sign of the 22-year-old’s recent progress. Miller came within a second of winning the Argentine Moto3 GP 2014 and was a promising 12th in just his third MotoGP race a year later.

Spaniard Tito Rabat (Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda RC213V) was rewarded for his preseason efforts in Qatar, scoring one point in his first ride after coming back from injuries in preseason testing. The Argentine round has been good to the Spaniard: he won the Moto2 race in 2014 and scored his best premier-class result to date with a fine ninth-place finish last year.

Apart from Austria’s Red Bull Ring, Argentina is the most recent addition to the MotoGP calendar. At 4.8km/2.9 miles, the Termas de Rio Hondo track is a blend of fast straights and undulating, high-speed corners which has proven highly popular with riders. Not only is the circuit a great test for machines, its abrasive surface also makes it hard on tyres.

After Sunday’s racing the MotoGP has one weekend off before reconvening in North America for the third round. The Grand Prix of the Americas takes place in Austin, Texas, USA on April 23rd. The 18-race season runs all the way through to November 12, when riders contest the Valencia GP in Spain.


Marc Marquez 93

“Qatar was a hard Grand Prix but we improved a lot over the weekend even if we couldn’t reach the podium on Sunday. Now we’ll see if the work we did there will be fruitful in Argentina. The track is nice; I’ve always felt good there, but the grip level is always pretty low. Tyre life is something to be aware of, as it’s normally very short, so we’ll work to reduce this issue and also to further improve the general bike set-up. We look forward to fighting for the podium in front of our Argentinian fans, who are very passionate and supportive.”

Dani Pedrosa 26

“We’ve remained positive after the first race, which was quite strange due to everything that happened before the start, and now we aim to keep working hard, looking to improve in Argentina. We’ll start with basically the same setup we finished with in Qatar, of course adapting the gearbox and the mapping setting to the track, and on Friday we’ll see where we are. It’s difficult to make predictions before getting to the circuit, as we must see how the track conditions are and how the tyres work. But we are ready and excited to get there and jump on the bike. Usually the asphalt there is very dirty and hard on tyres, but it tends to improve over the weekend. We’ll do our best to get a good result.”

Cal Crutchlow 35

“After the disappointment of Qatar a couple of weeks ago I’m looking forward to going to Argentina and hoping to make amends. We shouldn’t be too worried though, because I started last year badly and things got a lot better, so now I’ve started this season badly, hopefully things will start getting better now and I can repay the team with a good result. I like the track and I’m looking forward to going there. Also we know the bike should be good there – Marc won last year and I got a podium in 2015, so we’ll see what we can do this time.”

Jack Miller 43

“Qatar was a good start to the season and I was happy with the result. Now we head to Argentina looking to improve further, on a track that should be a good match for our bike. We’ve been getting better and better each time we get out on the bike and I’m confident we can continue that trend at the next two races in Argentina and Austin, two tracks I enjoy racing at a lot. Termas is a circuit that doesn’t see much use, so some caution is required on Friday when the track can be a little dirty, but it doesn’t usually take long to clean up. I’m looking forward to the weekend ahead, as they always put on a bit of a special show for the race in Argentina.”

Tito Rabat 53

“In Qatar I finished in the points and closer to the winner than I did all last season, despite the injuries and the track time lost to the weather, so I was satisfied with that. Now we head to Argentina and a very different track, one that I’m very much looking forward to racing on now that I have such a good feeling with the bike and the tyres, especially the front. We know that Friday will be pretty much a lost day if the track is as dirty as we’ve seen in previous years, but for me it will the perfect opportunity to start building my rhythm without taking too many risks. I’m confident that I can make another significant step forward this weekend in Argentina.”