After pole position, Aleix Espargaro also sets the best time in warm-up practice and underpins his race pace – Fabio Quartararo first pursuer
Aleix Espargaro underpinned the Aprilia’s race pace again in warm-up practice for the Argentine Grand Prix. The Spaniard lapped the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in 1’38.648, almost two and a half tenths of a second quicker than Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).
In order to allow the teams more track time due to the cancelled practice Friday, the warm-up session was extended from 20 to 40 minutes. This allowed further work on race set-up and tyres.
Everyone started with the soft rear tyre. Some riders also used the soft compound at the front, but most of them used the hard version. Aleix Espargaro went hard – soft and confirmed his good pace from yesterday’s practice right from the start.
But also Quartararo showed a very good pace front and rear with the soft tyre. After the first pit stops, most of the riders who had started on soft switched to the hard front tyre. Quartararo also made this change.
The trend was clear. Michelin confirmed that the hard front tyre was the preferred choice. At the rear, everyone will go for the soft tyre in the race. Aleix Espargaro continuously showed the best pace and was the crucial one or two tenths of a second faster than the rest.
The final result also showed that. Aleix Espargaro was 0.244 seconds ahead of Quartararo. Alex Rins followed in third on the Suzuki. Jorge Martin (Pramac-Ducati), who started from the front row, also presented himself competitively with the fourth best time.
Maverick Vinales’ fifth place underlined that Aprilia has great chances of a top result. Vice world champion Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) did a little better than yesterday, with a gap of three tenths of a second. He was sixth on the grid.
KTM didn’t grab any grid positions in the top 10. But Miguel Oliveira and Brad Binder also showed better race than qualifying pace, finishing seventh and eighth respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Takaaki Nakagami as the best Honda rider and Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati).
Stefan Bradl (Honda) is not yet up to speed in his short-term assignment as a replacement for Marc Marquez. The German also finished 24th and last in the warm-up. He was 1.1 seconds off the top. Bradl also starts last in the race.
Just before the halfway point of the practice Marco Bezzecchi (VR46-Ducati) crashed in turn 6. The rookie remained uninjured, but his bike has been properly damaged in several rollovers in the gravel.
Round ten minutes later, his VR46 teammate Luca Marini slipped at turn 2. The Italian, who starts from the front row, was able to ride his bike back to the pits. The damage was limited.
The 25-lap Grand Prix will start at 20:00 CET (for the starting grid).
