MotoGP Argentina P2 LIVE: It’s the ball in Noale!

Certainly, the start of the MotoGP season in Portugal did not fail in its objective of waking up the fans dozing off after the too long winter break! Explosive, sometimes in every sense of the word (All you have to do is see the images of the first rounds below.), the weekend confirmed the current trend of Ducati domination and Francis Bagnaia, the reigning world champion achieving a solid score of 37 points by winning both the Sprint and the Grand Prix. 

Confidence is therefore at its maximum on the side of Borgo Panigale, at the start of an Argentine Grand Prix at Termas de Rio Honda, a circuit on which the Desmosedici have never won. SO…

So the opposition could well come from Aprilia, Maverick Vinales not having made the game easy for the Italian at Portimao and appearing in 2nd place in the championship, Alex Espargaro having won the race here last year, thus bringing his first and for the moment only success to the men of Noale. The RS-GP may be completely new, with a new chassis, a new engine and new aerodynamics, it is already very competitive and will undoubtedly be a tough opponent this weekend...

In the world ranking, certainly still very green, then comes the first legion of the Ducati armada, for the moment represented by a fast Marco Bezzecchi and Johann zarco author of a fantastic last lap that the Frenchman will definitely remember during the 12-lap Sprint or the 25-lap Grand Prix.

let's be honest, Jack Miller et Alex Marquez surprised us!

The Australian was competitive all weekend, including during the testing session, an exercise where until now the KTM RC16s had rarely shone, even if we obviously don't forget that the local Miguel Oliveira brought victory back to Tech3 after starting from pole position in 2020. But still being at the front, Jack Miller managed to qualify 4th in the Sprint and finish the GP 7th, just behind the warrior Brad Binder, always there on Sunday.

Alex Marquez certainly does not regret the Honda and it is almost a new rider that we are discovering this year: competitive and incisive after an immediate adaptation to the Ducati, reminding us in passing that he was the Moto3 world champion in 2014 and champion of Moto2 world in 2019…

Finally, we will not forget fabio quartararo, author of two difficult starts to the race but having shown a rhythm capable of competing for podiums, while waiting to improve his Yamaha, just as we will not forget the four absent from this South American meeting, Espargaro Pol, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira et Marc Marquez.

On the circuit side, we expect more pronounced gaps at Termas de Rio Hondo, mainly because, unlike Portimao, no prior testing took place on the Argentinian track and the drivers will have to make the difference on a track that is paradoxically at the same time not very adherent, because it is dirty and little used, but very abrasive: another first for the new MotoGP format!
For the time being, Alex Espargaro won in 2022, Marc Marquez in 2019, Callus Crutchlow in 2018, Maverick Vinales in 2017, Marc Marquez in 2016, Valentino Rossi and in 2015 Marc Marquez in 2014, while the 2020 and 2021 editions were canceled due to covid.

Weather-wise, it’s not crazy. Judge for yourself...

This morning, on a dry track P1 showed us a Maverick Vinales supercharged and fairly tight gaps for his opponents, but also a fabio quartararo in trouble.
For the time being, Maverick Vinales, Alex Espargaro, George Martin, Takaaki Nakagami, Alex Marquez, Johann zarco, Luca marini, Franco Morbidelli, Marco Bezzecchi et Francis Bagnaia have provisionally obtained their direct passage into Qualification-2.

Temperatures are currently down to 24° in the air and 30° on the ground, under gray skies but with a dry track.

As the 18 pilots prepare for this 2 minute P60 session, let's enjoy these few moments live thanks to the official website MotoGP.com :

Argentine GP MotoGP™	2022	2023
P1	1'39.028 Takaaki Nakagami (See here)	1'39.207 Maverick Vinales (See here)
P2	1'38.244 Aleix Espargaró (See here)	1'38.518 Aleix Espargaró (See here)
FP	Canceled (Air freight)	(See here)
FP4	Canceled (Air freight)	XXXXXXX
Q1	1'38.501 Pol Espargaró (See here)	(See here)
Q2	1'37.688 Aleix Espargaró (See here)	(See here)
Sprint	XXXXXXX	(See here)
Warm up	1'38.648 Aleix Espargaro (See here)	(See here)
Course	A.Espargaro, Martin, Rins (See here)	(See here)
All time lap record	1'37.683 Marc Márquez 2014

When the red lights go out... it's all over again Franco Morbidelli who sets off first, but he precedes this afternoon fabio quartararo et Jack Miller.

Conversely, Maverick Vinales lets everyone go to do a test start from the pit lane, which is authorized by the regulations on certain circuits.

In terms of tires, hard front and medium rear are preferred by drivers.

At the end of the first round, George Martin registered 1'40.714 ahead Johann zarco et Alex Espargaro.

In the next passage, alex rins achieves 1'40.181 while Francis Bagnaia go back to his box already. What will fabio quartararo in this session?

One more round and Alex Espargaro is in 1'39.664, that is to say 4/10 of the best time achieved this morning.

After 10 minutes, Luca marini goes back to 89/1000 of the Aprilia rider while Jack Miller clearly having a lot of fun on the KTM…

Augusto Fernandez fell without gravity when losing the front of his KTM at turn #1.

alex rins then achieved the best time of the session in 1'39.603.

At the end of the first run, the top 10 of this session is made up of Alex Rins, Aleix Espargaro, Luca Marini, Jorge Martin, Marco Bezzecchi, Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia and Alex Márquez  but alone Fabio Quartararo, Jack Miller, Brad Binder and Joan Mir have so far improved their times this morning.

On resumption, Francis Bagnaia et fabio quartararo set off again together but little by little the Italian rider loses control of the Frenchman who cannot follow the #1 Ducati which is now in 3rd place...

Curiously, George Martin is the only one to use a soft tire at the front.

At mid-session, the top 10 combined is now made up of Maverick Vinales, Aleix Espargaro, Jorge Martin, Takaaki Nakagami, Alex Rins, Alex Marquez, Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia, Luca Marini and Franco Morbidelli.

fabio quartararo, eighth in the session, is in 13th place overall.

A few minutes of relative calm follow during which the drivers and technicians prepare the settings for the last quarter of an hour which will be decisive for going directly to Q2...

On resumption, George Martin jumped from seventh to first place in the session, in 1'39.137, the best time of the weekend so far. The Pramac driver nevertheless continued his effort and set the new benchmark in 1'39.092. However, we are still far from the best time of last year's FP2, in 1'38.244 per Aleix Espargaro.

Francis Bagnaia then appears at the top of the table, in 1'38.969, but quickly Maverick Vinales dislodges him in 1'38.852.

Marco Bezzecchi updates the front row in 1'38.767 11 minutes from the checkered flag, while his teammate Luca marini takes provisional third position. What a job done by the young VR 46 team!

Nine minutes before the end of the session, everyone is back in their box with the exception of Jack Miller et Augusto Fernandez.

Everything is at stake now and George Martin first goes back to 5th position, fabio quartararo in the 13th, Franco Morbidelli at the 7th, then Alex Espargaro at the 2th.

Two minutes before the flag was lowered, Maverick Vinales achieves the best time in 1'38.680 then Alex Espargaro in 1'38.518.

It's the ball in Noale!

Conversely and despite all his efforts, Fabio Quartararo will have to go through Q1, unlike Aleix Espargaro, Maverick Vinales, Marco Bezzecchi, Luca Marini, Johann Zarco, Francesco Bagnaia, Jorge Martin, Takaaki Nakagami, Franco Morbidelli and Alex Rins.

Results of P2 of the MotoGP Argentine Grand Prix at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com