Monthly Archives: March 2019

Marquez secures fifth Termas pole in six years

Marquez secures fifth Termas pole in six years

Reigning World Champion takes Argentina GP P1 in qualifying as Honda, Yamaha and Ducati lock out the front row

It’s pole position for Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) at the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina thanks to his 1:38.304 in Q2, the reigning World Champion topping second place Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) by 0.154 and Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) by 0.164.

It was Marquez who led the MotoGP™ class out in Q2 as the Spaniard and teammate Jorge Lorenzo tangoed around Termas in tandem on their opening flying laps, with the number 93 setting an initial benchmark of 1:38.767 to go top. Lorenzo was second but not for long, with Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) exchanging second fastest laps, with the British rider eventually heading in after the first stint as Marquez’ closest challenger – 0.188 the gap, with Miller, Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Viñales the top five, Dovizioso down in P9 at this point.

Marquez emerged from the box again as he went for the two-stop Q2 strategy, but his second run was ruined at the first corner after a slight mistake under braking. He headed straight back to the pits and with five minutes remaining, the 12 riders were back out on circuit with fresh rubber at their disposal for a shot at pole.

And a shot at pole is exactly what seven riders were going for as seven red sectors lit up the timing screens in FP1. Viñales was the first to overhaul Marquez but it was Miller’s time that was raising eyebrows. The Australian was 0.4 under after three sectors but he lost it all in the final sector as Dovizioso and Rossi slotted in behind Viñales. But, as ever, Marquez was in the hunt and he tamed his RC213V to grab Termas pole by 0.154 – his fifth in six years in Argentina. Crutchlow was the only rider in attack mode in the final 30 seconds of qualifying and having been pushed down to eighth, last year’s Argentina winner needed to pull something out of the hat. But a mistake in sector three when under a tenth off Marquez put an end to his front row hopes.

This left Marquez as the man to spearhead the grid in Argentina, with Yamaha’s Viñales and Ducati’s Dovizioso joining him on the front row. Rossi will launch from P4, ten places higher than where he started in Qatar, with last season’s pole man Miller completing a top five covered by just 0.244.

Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) will start from his best MotoGP™ qualifying position in sixth, with teammate Fabio Quartararo continuing to impress in seventh – just 0.011 splitting the YZR-M1 duo. Crutchlow, who won from P10 on the grid last season, will start from eighth as he aims for the podium on Sunday, with the British rider joined on the third row by teammate Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Castrol) – the Japanese rider 0.734 from pole in P9 after graduating from Q1.

Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) completes a top ten covered by 0.789 at Termas de Rio Hondo, with Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) starting from P11 after Lorenzo’s fastest lap was chalked off due to exceeding track limits – the five-time World Champion will start from 12th.

A major shock from Q1 was 2018 Argentina GP podium finisher Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) unable to start higher than P16. A repeat of last season’s success looks like an incredibly difficult task for the Spaniard.

A tasty looking Termas grid sets us up nicely for the main course on Sunday. Will Marquez dance his way to a first race win of the season, or can a Yamaha, Ducati or fellow Honda rider quickstep past the number 93 and spoil his party? Don’t miss any of the action from Argentina when lights go out for premier class racing at 15:00 local time (GMT-3).

Q2 results:

1. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) 1.38.304
2. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.154
3. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) + 0.164
4. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.241
5. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 0.244
6. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.582
7. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.593
8. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) + 0.651
9. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.734
10. Danilo Petrucci (Mission Winnow Ducati) + 0.789
11. Pol Espargaro (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) + 1.185
12. Jorge Lorenzo (Repsol Honda Team) + 1.216

Click here for the full results from qualifying!

Source: Marquez secures fifth Termas pole in six years

Dovi and the underdog: Ducatis in the hunt

Dovi and the underdog: Ducatis in the hunt

‘DesmoDovi’ and Miller are in with a shout of Termas glory after strong showings in FP4 and qualifying on Saturday

On a track that traditionally hasn’t suited the Desmosedici machines in the past, both Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) are in the hunt for a top result on Sunday afternoon at the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina.

Dovizioso qualified on the outside of the front row in P3 for the race to confirm his and Ducati’s speed around Termas de Rio Honda has improved from last season. And it’s a result the Italian is understandably pleased about.

“Very good result but from the first practice the feeling was good. The base of our bike compared to last year was much better. We were able to keep a really good speed and practice by practice I think we’re a bit closer to Marc,” said Dovi, who will aim to ruffle the number 93’s feathers on the opening laps as Marquez starts from pole position.

But Marquez isn’t the only Honda Dovizioso is worried about. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol), despite starting from P8 for the race, has looked the likely candidate to take the race to Marquez throughout the weekend. But Dovizioso is confident Ducati aren’t far away.

“Cal I think is very, very strong in the race but we are there. This year we have our card to play and let’s see tomorrow, the conditions look worse than these two days so that will affect everybody.

“We are in a different situation than Qatar, the track is different. Just in the race you can understand what you can do. The practices are always very different from the race, sometimes it’s positive, sometimes it’s negative. Argentina is a really strange track for the strategy and in the way you have to manage the speed and the consumption. It’s quite strange, not easy, especially with our bike. But the speed is there so we have our card.”

The South American climate also may have a card to play on Sunday, with weather forecasts predicting rain. But no matter what conditions greet the riders on Sunday, Dovizioso says the podium “is our target. 100%.”

And what about Miller? He too has looked one of the strongest riders on track all weekend and is in confident mood heading into battle in Termas.

“We have the pace. I was close to getting on the front row but it wasn’t enough today. I tried my best. A big moment at turn 11 cost me but I’m happy,” began the Australian. “The bike’s working really well. We were able to do a long run; 18 laps in FP4 on the soft and had good pace. We have to wait and see tomorrow what the plan will be for the race. Marc’s been fast on medium and soft tyres.

“We have the pace on both but it depends on the type of race he’s trying to ride. He’s definitely the strongest out there, this weekend, so it’s going to be up to him which style of race he wants to ride; whether he’s going to try to go at the start, I think not many of us will have to pace to try to follow him, but if he tries to manage the tyre to the end he’ll give some other guys a chance or bring the group closer. Anyway, happy to be here and ready to fight tomorrow.”

Likewise to Dovizioso, Miller is aware of the threat Crutchlow poses. But can either of them stop Marquez?

“All weekend Cal and myself have been quite similar. My pace seems to be a little bit better than his, in consistency, but we know Cal, he’s never really focused on that too much, he’s just doing the one lap. He’s a specialist at that. Marc’s been quite clearly about half a second on me, I feel I have half a second, but Marc’s always been able to run… if I’m doing 40 lows, he’s doing 39.5s and it’s been like that all weekend. We found a little bit in FP4 and I think we can carry that to the race.”

Rain or shine, it looks like the Ducatis of Dovi and Miller are ready to take the fight to the Hondas. Throw Yamaha into the mix as well as we have ourselves an incredible looking scrap for the win and podium in Argentina. You don’t want to miss the race, so take your seat before the lights go out at 15:00 local time (GMT-3).

Source: Dovi and the underdog: Ducatis in the hunt

John McPhee fastest on day one in Argentina

John McPhee fastest on day one in Argentina

John McPhee dominated the first day of the Argentina GP, with the fastest Moto3 time at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit on Friday. The PETRONAS Sprinta Racing rider set the best lap of the second Free Practice session, whilst teammate Ayumu Sasaki made progress to conclude the day in 15th.

A provisional place in Q2 was the target for John in FP1, and he ran a great pace throughout the session. In the final run of the morning, with fresh tyres, he went seventh fastest with a time of 1:51.809.

In the afternoon, John looked to continue lowering his times. The PETRONAS Sprinta Racing rider would do so throughout, and a 1:49.892 on his penultimate attempt of the day allowed him to top the combined timesheets.

The Moto3 Argentina Grand Prix action continues on Saturday with FP3, which will be vital for determining who will go into Q2. Qualifying will take place at 12:35pm and 1pm local time, respectively.

#17 John McPhee

“I’m very happy. I had a good feeling and a good pace from FP1 onwards, and we didn’t have to make changes to the bike because it worked very well. In FP2 we have used new tyres, with which I was able to set a good time. In Qatar we had good potential, but we never had a good enough feeling to take advantage of it. Now it seems that everything is coming together and we can ride better. Finishing the first day with the best time is a great way to start the weekend, but the most important part is still to come. If we keep working like this, we can have an exciting weekend.”

Source: John McPhee fastest on day one in Argentina

Top 21 within a second as Dovi takes top honours on Friday

Top 21 within a second as Dovi takes top honours on Friday

An incredibly tight field at Termas leaves Ducati riders P1 and P2 with Miller second, Viñales ends Friday in third

Championship leader Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) leads an incredibly tight MotoGP™ field at the end of play on Friday at the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina, a mini qualifying session at the end of FP2 seeing the Ducati man head Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) by 0.009.

It was FP1 leader Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) who set the pace throughout the second Free Practice session in Argentina, before a flurry of quick times were thrown in during the final seven minutes of Friday as the fresh rubber was put on, despite a slight threat of rain in the air.

Nothing came of the changing weather though and it was Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) who set the first time on a fresh set of tyres to go to P2, with Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Tech 3) dipping his toes in the top ten in the latter stages too. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) then set the red sectors to topple Marquez’ time, as almost every rider started setting personal best laps as the battle for the automatic Q2 places heated up. Miller jumped up to P1 by over a tenth to move the goalposts further, the Australian recovering from an early crash at Turn 13 in FP2 before fellow Ducati rider Dovizioso went another 0.009 seconds quicker to jump to P1 from 16th – a time that would go unbeaten.

Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), despite complaining about the rear grip on the opening day, managed to set the third fastest lap time with a minute to go in FP2, the Spaniard 0.164 back from Dovi. Fourth went to Crutchlow, with fifth place Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) producing the good again to end Friday in fifth place – 0.176 from P1 for the rookie.

The Frenchman heads nine-time World Champion Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), ‘The Doctor’ going quicker in the final stages of the session to grab a provisional automatic Q2 place. The Italian, who looks to have good pace this weekend, heads Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) by just 0.010, the Spaniard sitting 0.270 from Dovizioso’s time, with Marquez being pushed down to P8. The reigning World Champion one of, if not the only rider to not put fresh rubber in as FP2 ended though.

Completing the top ten and provisional automatic Q2 spots was ninth place Morbidelli and tenth place Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) as just 0.448 covered the aforementioned riders.

The top 21 riders are covered by less than a second after Friday’s track action at Termas. An incredible timesheet sets us up for a barnstormer of a Saturday in South America, with FP3, FP4 and qualifying to come. Will anyone be able to break into the top ten in the third Free Practice session? Find out when the premier class head out on track at 10:50 local time (GMT-3).

Top 10:

1. Andrea Dovizioso (Mission Winnow Ducati) 1:39.181
2. Jack Miller (Pramac Racing) + 0.009
3. Maverick Viñales (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.164
4. Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) + 0.165
5. Fabio Quartararo (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.176
6. Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) + 0.260
7. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) + 0.270
8. Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) + 0.316
9. Franco Morbidelli (Petronas Yamaha SRT) + 0.322
10. Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) + 0.448

Click here for the full results!

Source: Top 21 within a second as Dovi takes top honours on Friday