Pol Espargaró, Enea Bastianini, Marc Márquez and Miguel Oliveira are injured, the 18 remaining regular MotoGP riders started the second Grand Prix of the season at 10.45 a.m. local time (3.45 p.m. CEST) at 32 degrees asphalt temperature on slick tires after it Termas de Río Hondo had rained heavily at times earlier on Friday morning, especially towards the end of the first Moto3 practice session.
Jorge Martin broke a ten in his right foot in Sunday’s incident with Marc Márquez in Portimão. For this weekend, however, the Pramac star does not expect any restrictions. “I feel good,” assured the “Martinator” in Las Termas. “I wasn’t able to go on Monday and was a bit worried about the weekend, but I’m feeling better every day. That is the good news. I have a feeling we can be competitive and it won’t be a problem for the weekend.”
LCR Honda newcomer Alex Rins crashed at Turn 1 after half an hour of the 45-minute first practice session for the Argentine GP but was unhurt. Due to the low grip level at the beginning of the weekend and after the rain, the times were well over 1:40 min. Only eight minutes before the end did VR46 Ducati young star Marco Bezzecchi, third in the Portugal GP, break the clock in 1:39.700 min the first to reach the 1:40 mark.
For comparison: Takaaki Nakagami (Honda)’s FP1 best time last year was 1:39.028 min, Aleix Espargaró (Aprilia) drove to pole position in 1:37.688 min. Marc Márquez’s (Honda) all-time lap record from 2014 was five thousandths of a second faster at 1:37.683 min.
In the final five minutes, however, the MotoGP aces then went on a hunt for times, because rain in the afternoon cannot be ruled out and the combined time list for Friday has decided on the direct entry into Q2 since this season.
Viñales set the best time of 1:39.209 minutes, after which his RS-GP probably ran out of fuel. His teammate and last year’s winner Aleix Espargaró finished second, 0.284 seconds behind. Behind Jorge Martin, Takaaki Nakagami surprised in fourth on the LCR-Honda.
World Championship leader Pecco Bagnaia completes the provisional top 10. Fabio Quartararo was 15th while his Yamaha teammate Franco Morbidelli was eighth.
By the way: The medium compound is the softer rear tire in the allocation this weekend.
MotoGP result FP1, Las Termas (31.3.):
1. Vinales, Aprilia, 1:39.209 min
2. Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia, + 0.284 sec
3. Martin, Ducati, +0.301
4. Nakagami, Honda, +0.376
5. Alex Márquez, Ducati, + 0,403
6. Zarco, Ducati, +0.421
7. Marini, Ducati, + 0.426
8. Morbidelli, Yamaha, +0.489
9. Bezzecchi, Ducati, +0.493
10. Bagnaia, Ducati, + 0.544
11. Kidneys, Honda, + 0.595
12. Di Giannantonio, Ducati, + 0.719
13. Augusto Fernández, KTM, + 0.787
14. Miller, KTM, + 0,830
15. Quartararo, Yamaha, + 0,909
16. Brad Binder, KTM, + 1,057
17. Raul Fernandez, Aprilia, +1,129
18. Mir, Honda, +1.458
Moto2 result FP1, Las Termas (31/3):
1. González, Kalex, 1:44,185 min
2. Chantra, Kalex, + 0,058 sec
3. Canet, Kalex, + 0,084
4. Salac, Kalex, + 0,198
5. Arbolino, Kalex, + 0.207
6. Acosta, Kalex, +0.295
7. Dixon, Kalex, +0.309
8. Aldeguer, Boscoscuro, + 0.345
9. Lowes, Kalex, + 0,458
10. Foggia, Kalex, + 0,726
11. Alcoba, Kalex, + 0.800
12. Bendsneyder, Kalex, +0.842
13. Lopez, Boscoscuro, + 1.005
14. Roberts, Kalex, + 1,128
15. Dalla Porta, Kalex, +1,200
Further:
27. Ogura, Kalex, +3,214