Following contact between Aron Canet and Makar Yurchenko in FP1, followed by a minor fall, Race Direction declared the event a “racing incident” and imposed no penalty.
Jorge Martín and John McPhee are the only drivers present to be on the podium in Argentina last year. McPhee also qualified on pole position for the third time in his career. This year he is driving for Alain Bronec’s CIP – Green Power team.
|
#ArgentinaGP Moto3 |
2017 |
2018 |
| FP1 |
1'51.559 Joan Mir |
1'52.190 Marco Bezzecchi |
| FP2 |
1'50.248 Joan Mir |
1'50.397 Enea Bastianini |
| FP3 |
1'49.792 Nicolo Bulega |
|
| Qualification |
1'49.094 John McPhee |
|
| Warm Up |
1'50.453 John McPhee |
|
| Course | Mir, McPhee, Martin | |
| All time lap record |
1'48.461 Miguel Oliveira 2015 |
Despite the feared, if not anticipated, rain, the weather remained favorable for Friday afternoon. However, there were heavy clouds above the circuit. The time to improve in this second free session was the 1'52.190 established during FP1 by Marco Bezzecchi, whose team leader for the PruestlGP team is the Frenchman Florian Chiffoleau.
Lets get back to it at the #ArgentinaGP 🇦🇷@ Marco12_B loves a wheelie 😉 pic.twitter.com/hUsIcVfISk
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) April 6, 2018
Livio Loi (Reale Avintia Academy) started the session very well in 1'52.363. Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) overtook him in 1'51.891, a hundredth ahead of Jorge Martin. The best time in FP1 was already beaten. Aron Canet was closing in on the leaders in third position. Gabriel Rodrigo made clear progress in 1'51.112, more than half a second ahead of his immediate follower Niccolo Antonelli.
Jorge Martin (Del Conca Gresini) took second position in 1'51.314, 0.202 behind Gabriel Rodrigo. He preceded the two Italians Niccolo Antonelli (SIC58 Squadra Corse) and Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing). Nakarin Atiratphuvapat (Honda Team Asia) stood out with fifth position in 1'51.720, 0.608 behind Bastianini.
Around ten minutes from the checkered flag, local driver Gabriel Rodrigo delighted the spectators by retaining first position in 1'51.112. His lead over second Jorge Martin was 0.459, while Niccolo Antonelli was two hundredths behind Martin and Andrea Bastianini eight hundredths behind. All the drivers returned to the pits around ten minutes before the end to prepare for their last attempt of the day.
Gabriel Rodrigo left with his teammate, the rookie Kazuki Masaki, in his wheel. Jorge Martin, alone on the track, consolidated his second position in 1'51.298, 0.186 behind Rodrigo. Then Lorenzo Dalla Porta took command in 1'50.805. Tony Arbolino followed closely at 0.053.
# Moto3 FP2 🏁
@eneabastianini and @dallap48 make it a @Leopard_Moto 1-2 to round out the day in the lightweight class#ArgentinaGP pic.twitter.com/4rklEopmgG
- MotoGP @ 🏁 (@MotoGP) April 6, 2018
In the very last minute, Enea Bastianini (Leopard Racing) took first place in 1'50.397, 0.408 ahead of Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Leopard Racing), who preceded Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team), Livio Loi, Jorge Martin, Kaito Toba and Gabriel Rodrigo.
Results of the second free practice session :
1 33 Enea BASTIANINI ITA Leopard Racing HONDA 1'50.397 16 16 222.8
2 48 Lorenzo DALLA PORTA ITA Leopard Racing HONDA 1'50.805 14 16 0.408 0.408 226.9
3 14 Tony ARBOLINO ITA Marinelli Snipers Team HONDA 1'50.858 13 15 0.461 0.053 227.6
4 11 Livio LOI BEL Reale Avintia Academy KTM 1'50.899 13 13 0.502 0.041 227.7
5 88 Jorge MARTIN SPA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 HONDA 1'51.001 15 15 0.604 0.102 230.0
6 27 Kaito TOBA JPN Honda Team Asia HONDA 1'51.024 16 16 0.627 0.023 229.8
7 19 Gabriel RODRIGO ARG RBA BOE Skull Rider KTM 1'51.112 4 15 0.715 0.088 224.8
8 7 Adam NORRODIN MAL Petronas Sprinta Racing HONDA 1'51.121 14 14 0.724 0.009 226.6
9 23 Niccolò ANTONELLI ITA SIC58 Squadra Corse HONDA 1'51.161 14 16 0.764 0.040 224.3
10 41 Nakarin ATIRATPHUVAP THA Honda Team Asia HONDA 1'51.216 17 17 0.819 0.055 224.4
11 22 Kazuki MASAKI JPN RBA BOE Skull Rider KTM 1'51.265 13 13 0.868 0.049 224.0
12 24 Tatsuki SUZUKI JPN SIC58 Squadra Corse HONDA 1'51.279 10 12 0.882 0.014 223.5
13 5 Jaume MASIA SPA Bester Capital Dubai KTM 1'51.299 11 13 0.902 0.020 223.7
14 44 Aron CANET SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 HONDA 1'51.346 15 15 0.949 0.047 225.0
15 71 Ayumu SASAKI JPN Petronas Sprinta Racing HONDA 1'51.351 14 14 0.954 0.005 227.5
16 16 Andrea MIGNO ITA Angel Nieto Team Moto3 KTM 1'51.449 13 14 1.052 0.098 223.5
17 65 Philipp OETTL GER Sudmetal Schedl GP Racing KTM 1'51.508 13 15 1.111 0.059 226.6
18 17 John MCPHEE GBR CIP – Green Power KTM 1'51.552 13 14 1.155 0.044 220.0
19 75 Albert ARENAS SPA Angel Nieto Team Moto3 KTM 1'51.587 11 13 1.190 0.035 224.1
20 40 Darryn BINDER RSA Red Bull KTM Ajo KTM 1'51.627 13 15 1.230 0.040 221.8
21 21 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO ITA Del Conca Gresini Moto3 HONDA 1'51.667 12 13 1.270 0.040 219.3
22 10 Dennis FOGGIA ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM 1'51.679 10 12 1.282 0.012 225.4
23 12 Marco BEZZECCHI ITA Redox PruestelGP KTM 1'51.736 12 14 1.339 0.057 228.2
24 84 Jakub KORNFEIL CZE Redox PruestelGP KTM 1'51.811 13 15 1.414 0.075 224.4
25 76 Makar YURCHENKO KAZ CIP – Green Power KTM 1'52.093 7 17 1.696 0.282 225.4
26 8 Nicolo BULEGA ITA SKY Racing Team VR46 KTM 1'52.511 15 16 2.114 0.418 223.7
27 42 Marcos RAMIREZ SPA Bester Capital Dubai KTM 1'52.840 5 13 2.443 0.329 221.7
28 72 Alonso LOPEZ SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 HONDA 1'52.956 11 18 2.559 0.116 222.0
Reference times:
Test record: 1'48.461 by Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 2015
Lap record: 1'48.977 by Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) in 2015
Best top speed: 233,9 km/h for Kaito Toba (Honda Team Asia) in 2017
Provisional ranking of the World Championship:
1 Jorge MARTIN-Honda 25 points
2 Aron CANET-Honda 20
3 Lorenzo DALLA PORTA-Honda 16
4 Niccolò ANTONELLI-Honda 13
5 Gabriel RODRIGO-KTM 11
6 Fabio DI GIANNANTONIO-Honda 10
7 Kaito TOBA-Honda 9
8 Ayumu SASAKI-Honda 8
9 Jakub KORNFEIL-KTM 7
10 Andrea MIGNO-KTM 6
Photos © Motogp.com and teams
