Aprilia Racing celebrated a storming FP2 in Argentina as Aleix Espargaro led Maverick Viñales in the MotoGP standings.
A 1’38.244 concluded an impressive practice with the Noale pair repeatedly taking charge throughout the hour long session. Ducati Lenovo's Jack Miller the closest challenger as the session drew to a close, while his Bologna teammate Pecco Bagnaia dropped out of Q2 contention, in 12th.
Espargaro started the afternoon practice as he had the first, out front with 1’39.293 pace and six-tenths ahead of the rest of the field. Tech3’s Remy Gardner getting caught out at the first corner by the increasing wind as the session fired up.
Suzuki’s Joan Mir and Yamaha’s Fabio Quartararo honed in on the Aprilia as FP2 unfolded before Marco Bezzecchi proved FP1 was far from a one off. The Mooney VR46 bettering the RS-GP with a 1’39.250 before Espargaro hit back, 0.134s ahead.
Ducati power promoted Miller and Bagnaia to fourth and fifth after ten minutes of non-stop action with Jorge Martin joining the fray, in third, moments later and his Pramac partner Johann Zarco doing likewise for fourth next time around.
Espargaro continued to master the times thanks to a 1’38.956 on his eighth lap before teammate Maverick Viñales joined him for an Aprilia one-two, 0.043s apart, three laps later. Younger brother Pol suffering at the opening corner after 20 minute on track as he lost the front of the Repsol Honda and crashed out from 14th. Bagnaia likewise running wide at the same corner shortly after.
While five Ducatis sat in the top ten at the halfway stage of FP2, only three claimed the positions in the combined times, and none from the factory outfit. Just the front-running Aprilia duo and Pramac pairing having improved on their FP1 pace with Brad Binder and Mir the first outside the promotion places as the second half began. The KTM pulling over to the side of the track as his RC-16 expired in a cloud of smoke at turn 12 on his 14th lap.
Enea Bastianini staked his claim on the final direct Q2 place with less than 20 minutes on the clock as the Gresini racer demoted his Ducati cohort Martin out of contention. Viñales advancing the pace overall with a 1’38.454 before his teammate once again struck back for the commanding honours, two-tenths ahead.
Mir was the next to strike, taking third with Miguel Oliveira finding his way to fourth moments later before he too was bettered by his own teammate as Binder returned to action on his number two machine. Franky Morbidelli rose to sixth before first Bezzecchi then Bagnaia demoted him to eighth and his Yamaha partner dropped out of the Q2 zone.
The action kept coming as the session counted down and a rejuvenated Quartararo climbed to third, narrowly behind his former teammate, Viñales. His actual teammate now the one in danger and facing the Q1 fight as both Morbidelli and Bezzecchi were dumped out of the top ten.
With the pack in pitlane for fresh rubber, Luca Marini circulated on a quite track. The VR46 man running 17th and 1.1s adrift of the outright pace with just Stefan Bradl and Morbidelli for company on track.
The final runs began with six minutes left to play and the qualifying session beckoning. Chaos on track seeing riders sandbagging as they waited for a tow with Bagnaia braking in the midst of the pack to the shock of the onlookers - with Aleix Espargaro openly gesticulating to the watching cameras. Darryn Binder crashing out at the opening corner.
Safe at the top Espargaro remained in the garage. Miller storming to third ahead of Quartararo with Binder bettering the Suzuki pairing for sixth and seventh. Bezzecchi crashed out from 14th at turn one with a late charge from Marini dropping Oliveira into the Q1 fight. An openly frustrated Bagnaia, Nakagami, Morbidelli, Bastianini and Pol Espargaro joining him as qualifying quickly approached.
