In the opening practice session of the Argentina MotoGP, Maverick Vinales easily led an Aprilia 1-2, with points leader Pecco Bagnaia finishing 10th and Fabio Quartararo 15th.
Maverick Vinales and the Aprilia team led the first practice for the Argentina Grand Prix by a dominant 0.284 seconds, while Fabio Quartarararo faces the risk of qualifying 15th.
The combination of the Friday pressures of the new weekend format and the anticipated threat of rain throughout the weekend—it had actually rained earlier in the day, but the track had dried in time for MotoGP action—set up a late-session time attack that wasn’t typically seen in FP1 under the previous format.
The race began with a 1m39.700s from Marco Bezzecchi (VR46 Ducati) on a brand-new medium rear tire, but it was Vinales who truly made the most of his new rubber, first leapfrogging Bezzecchi and then bringing the time down to a 1m39.207s.
Aprilia is attempting to repeat its historic first-series victory it secured at the Termas de Rio Hondo venue last year, and the Spaniard was in command as he turned in a pair of laps good enough for the top spot, his best time of 1:39.207s leaving him 0.284s clear of Aprilia teammate Aleix Espargaro.
Pramac Ducati rider Jorge Martin was third-fastest ahead of Honda’s Nakagami, who displayed impressive speed by finishing just 0.376s off Vinales’ record. Alex Marquez rounded out the top five for Gresini Ducati ahead of Johann Zarco, on the sister Pramac machine as Luca Marini took seventh.
Franco Morbidelli eased his Yamaha into eighth late on ahead of Portuguese GP podium finisher Marco Bezzecchi. Reigning champion Francesco Bagnaia finished 10th and was the sixth-fastest of the seven Ducati riders.
In contrast, Quartararo found it difficult to put together a consistent lap as the session came to a close. His best attempt left him in 15th place, a position that might be problematic if rain returns for the afternoon’s FP2 test.
KTM also struggled to maintain much one-lap speed, with factory riders Jack Miller and Brad Binder managing just the 14th and 16th best attempts, respectively, while rookie Augusto Fernandez topped the RC16 pilots for GasGas in 13th.
ARGENTINA MOTOGP PRACTICE 1 RESULTS
| Pos | Name | Team | Bike | Gap Next | Gap Leader | Best Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Maverick Viñales | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1m39.207s | ||
| 2 | Aleix Espargaró | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | +0.284s | +0.284s | 1m39.491s |
| 3 | Jorge Martin | Prima Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.017s | +0.301s | 1m39.508s |
| 4 | Takaaki Nakagami | LCR Honda IDEMITSU | Honda | +0.075s | +0.376s | 1m39.583s |
| 5 | Alex Marquez | Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | +0.027s | +0.403s | 1m39.61s |
| 6 | Johann Zarco | Prima Pramac Racing | Ducati | +0.018s | +0.421s | 1m39.628s |
| 7 | Luca Marini | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | +0.005s | +0.426s | 1m39.633s |
| 8 | Franco Morbidelli | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | +0.063s | +0.489s | 1m39.696s |
| 9 | Marco Bezzecchi | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | +0.004s | +0.493s | 1m39.7s |
| 10 | Francesco Bagnaia | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | +0.051s | +0.544s |
