MotoGP Argentina Q1 LIVE: Alex Marquez and Fabio Quartararo play against the rain

It's another explosive Saturday that awaits us in a MotoGP Grand Prix and this time it will happen in Argentina. The hierarchy given this Friday for qualifying has a particular taste for certain teammates who are generally overshadowed by their neighbor in the box. Those who had a good night were Franco Morbidelli, who won his ticket to Q2 with a ninth place at the end of the long P2 while the other Yamaha led by Fabio Quartararo remained stuck in fourteenth place. He will experience the fifth Q1 of his MotoGP career. And then there is also Nakagami, eighth and best Honda as at LCR without forgetting Johann Zarco, good fifth and who kept the “Martinator” declared candidate for the title in check…

The fact remains that the fastest was Aleix Espargaró who, on the track where last year he won Aprilia's only victory in the MotoGP category, set the best lap in 1'38.518. That's 0,162 seconds better than his teammate Maverick Vinales, the fastest FP1.

Third and fourth time for the Ducati Desmosedici of Team Mooney VR46 Racing Team driven by Marco Bezzecchi et Luca marini, followed by three other Desmosedici, that of the French John Zarco (Pramac Racing), that of the reigning Champion as well as winner of the first race contested at Portimao last week, Pecco Bagnaia, and the one at Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing).

The first non-European motorcycle is the Japanese Honda Takaaki Nakagami, eighth and in front of a Franco Morbidelli resurrected, revealing a Yamaha that enters directly into Q2. His teammate Fabio Quartararo, 2021 world champion, only finished 14th. alex rins closes the top 10 qualifiers for the qualifying final.

In Argentina, Fabio Quartararo will compete in his fifth career Q1 in MotoGP

In Q1, in addition to Quarterly, we also find Alex Marquez (Ducati Gresini), Brad Binder (KTM Factory), Joan mir (Honda Factory), Fabio DiGiannantonio (Ducati Gresini), Jack Miller, Augusto Fernandez (Team GASGAS) and the Aprilia RNF of Raul fernandez. It will be remembered that absent from the party due to injury: Pol Espargaró, Enea Bastianini, Miguel Oliveira and Marc Marquez.

What will this have in store for us? Q1 to the crucial issues for the rest of the Argentinian meeting? Before knowing it, here is the table which summarizes the facts known so far.

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)	1'41.029 Pecco Bagnaia (See here)
FP4	Canceled (Air freight)	XXXXXXX
Q1	1'38.501 Pol Espargaró (See here)	1'47.317 Alex Marquez (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

Let's start with the first basic news regarding the weather: last night it rained in Termas de Rio Hondo, and the track remained very wet in certain places. A situation which has not improved because during the exercise which has just ended, drops of rain fell...

Otherwise, Marco Bezzecchi avait annoncé vouloir “embêter” Bagnaia, not to say beat him and from the last free practice session, Bagnaia et Bezzecchi ont “joué” un peu sur la piste , avec une série de dépassements et de contre-attaques un peu risqués, compte tenu également des conditions de piste…

But these two men will meet again in Q2, here we are in Q1… There are still a few slightly dry sections of track, who knows if Jack Miller will not repeat the feat of 2018, when right here in Argentina he took pole position with slick tires despite the rain. He was then a Ducati Pramac rider.

Here are the live images…

Let us recall the list of drivers who will participate in Q1: Rins, Alex Marquez, Binder, Mir, Quartararo, Di Giannantonio, Miller, Augusto Fernandez, Raul Fernandez. 

Here we go and with rain tires. The route will get more and more humid. It will therefore be a matter of getting started without delay… fabio quartararo title straight into the gravel trap but returns to the track. Except Binder, all the drivers are on the track, they have all opted for rain tires.

In terms of timing, Alex Marquez is in 1'47.535 ahead of his teammate By Giannantonio. Quarterly takes the lead 9 minutes from the goal in 1'47.397. The track gets wet, but not all at once, so whoever goes from Q1 to Q2 could have an advantage in terms of feeling and sensitivity.

Alex Marquez improves and loses only 0,015 seconds on the best time of Quarterly. In the first two sectors the rain is more intense. Raul Fernandez enters 4th position behind Fabio Di Giannantonio, wheras'Alex Marquez rises to the top of the ranking! Now Alex 1st on Quarterly who leaves. During this time Raul fernandez mark a red helmet in the first sector.

Quarterly progresses but remains second. Raul fernandez is the new third. He is only 35 thousandths behind P2. There's one minute left. Quarterly brakes in turn 1 and misses. That's it for him, he won't cross the line in time to start another lap. Alex Marquez falls too. Both men move on to Q2. But the Spaniard's bike is on fire!

Raul fernandez secures starting position 13. By Giannantonio et Binder complete the fifth line. Miller, Augusto Fernandez and Mir start from the bottom of the grid.

 

Results of Qualification-1 of the Argentine MotoGP Grand Prix at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit:

Classification credit: MotoGP.com