Aprilia remains unbeaten in Argentina on Friday: As in the morning, the Italian brand also secured the two top positions in the second practice session of the MotoGP in the afternoon.
This time, however, Aleix Espargaro was ahead with a best time of 1:38.518 minutes and relegated his teammate Maverick Vinales to second place. However, he was only 0.162 seconds short. Third place went to Marco Bezzecchi from the VR46 Ducati team. He was 0.249 seconds short.
In the one-hour session, the drivers initially used the dry conditions to prepare for the race and work on their pace. The majority opted for the hard front and medium rear tires.
An early crash came from rookie Augusto Fernandez (Tech3-GasGas), who went down at Turn 1 after the first 15 minutes. Alex Rins (LCR Honda) had already fallen here in the morning. The GasGas pilot rolled over several times in the gravel, but was able to leave the scene of the accident on his own.
Tight top field on training Friday in Argentina
A handful of riders were able to quickly improve on their times from the first practice session, including Rins, who led the afternoon session for a long time. It only got really fast in the last 15 minutes, however, when the field switched to fresh tires to secure a place in the top 10 and move straight into Q2.
The first to beat Vinales’ best time of the morning was Jorge Martin, who was already scratching the 1:39 mark. This finally happened six times, because in addition to the top 3, Luca Marini (VR46-Ducati), Johann Zarco (Pramac-Ducati) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati) also made it into the 1:38 times.
Martin just missed this target, but in sixth place he was less than half a second behind the best time. Behind him was Takaaki Nakagami, the only Honda rider to make it into the top 10.
Upside down world at Yamaha: Morbidelli ahead of Quartararo
An unusual picture presented itself at Yamaha, because not Fabio Quartararo, but Franco Morbidelli moved straight into Q2 in ninth place. Quartararo didn’t feel comfortable on his M1 in the morning and complained about the lack of grip.
However, after some set-up changes, things didn’t go any better for the Frenchman in the afternoon either, who finished 14th. Rins secured the last direct place in Q2. Alex Marquez (Gresini-Honda) was 11th, followed by Brad Binder (KTM) and Joan Mir (Honda) in 12th and 13th.
How close the times were was shown by Fabio Di Giannantonio (Gresini-Ducati) and Jack Miller (KTM), who in 15th and 16th were still flagged down to the top within a second. Rookie Augusto Fernandez and his namesake Raul Fernandez (RNF-Aprilia) rounded out the field.