Repsol Honda’s Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa ended the first day of the GP of Argentina in first and third place, respectively, with fellow HRC rider Cal Crutchlow sandwiched between them in second.
As is the case every year, the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo track proved to be dirty and very slippery in FP1, but Dani made the best of the difficult conditions and set the session’s fastest time after fitting a new set of tyres for his final exit.
His 1’40.303” lap was fast enough to put him in third place in the first day’s combined times.
Though a few raindrops and a drop in temperature made track conditions even trickier in FP2, Marc was able to better his FP1 time of 1’40.781” by over a second, with his best lap of 1’39.395” putting him on top for the day.
FP3 will commence tomorrow at 10:55 a.m. local time.
Marc Marquez - 1st 1'39.395 (FP2)
“It was a good day for us. When we started this morning, the track was quite slippery and we struggled a bit but it was the same for every rider, and the asphalt steadily became cleaner. In the afternoon, the second session was a bit strange as conditions were kind of mixed, but all in all we were able to do good work on the bike setup, getting a pretty clear idea about those conditions. It was important to start the Argentinian GP well, but now we’ll wait and see what conditions we have going forward, as there’s a good chance things will change a lot in the next two days. It’s possible that we’ll have a very different track on Sunday, which would require a different setup, so we must keep our focus and continue working hard to be ready for the race.”
Dani Pedrosa - 3rd 1'40.303 (FP1)
“The track is always quite slippery here on the first day, which makes the first practice a bit tougher. The parts that had been resurfaced seem better in terms of the bumps, but the asphalt was too dirty to really understand what the grip was like. This morning we worked on the tyres, trying to make the best of the dry conditions, as the weather forecasts for the weekend aren’t good. We started the day well, but in the afternoon’s mixed conditions we weren’t able to complete all the work we had planned. We’ll see how the weather is tomorrow, and we’ll keep working for Sunday.”
1 Marquez Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'39.395
2 Crutchlow Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 0.404
3 Pedrosa Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 0.908
4 Rabat Tito 53 SPA Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 0.951
5 Iannone Andrea 29 ITA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 0.991
6 Vinales Maverick 25 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1.115
7 Rossi Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1.182
8 Rins Alex 42 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1.197
9 Zarco Johann 5 FRA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1.219
10 Miller Jack 43 AUS Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1.320
11 Bautista Alvaro 19 SPA Angel Nieto Team Ducati 1.371
12 Espargaro Aleix 41 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.405
13 Redding Scott 45 GBR Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1.444
14 Petrucci Danilo 9 ITA Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 1.468
15 Dovizioso Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1.543
16 Lorenzo Jorge 99 SPA Ducati Team Ducati 1.624
17 Syahrin Hafizh 55 MAL Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1.699
18 Smith Bradley 38 GBR Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.803
19 Espargaro Pol 44 SPA Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 1.960
20 Nakagami Takaaki 30 JPN LCR Honda Honda 1.962
21 Morbidelli Franco 21 ITA EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2.143
22 Abraham Karel 17 CZE Angel Nieto Team Ducati 2.389
23 Luthi Tom 12 SWI EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 2.503
24 Simeon Xavier 10 BEL Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 2.797
Marc Marquez tops the standings on day 1 in Argentina, Pedrosa third
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