Reigning MotoGP World Champion Marc Marquez unsurprisingly topped the opening free practice in Argentina but was chased hard by last year’s qualifying hero Jack Miller with Britain’s Cal Crutchlow in third place.
Marquez led for the meat of the opening session, putting in a best lap of 1’39.827 to head Pramac Ducati’s Miller by 0.353s while Crutchlow started his session slowly last year’s winner climbed the order to put in a 1’40.215.
The top three all used the medium rear Michelin to set their times. Marquez and Miller opted for a soft front while Crutchlow was on the medium front after spending a good portion of the session on the hard rear.
Franco Morbidelli stuck in a soft rear to set his fourth-placed time of 1'40.319 right at session end to edge out a brace of surprises.
Aprilia's Andrea Iannone shot into third place with two minutes left, setting a 1'40.366 on the medium rear Michelin, but slid back down the order to fifth while Johann Zarco was also at the sharp end, ending in sixth with a 1'40.387.
Other surprises saw Maverick Vinales, who has won at the Termas track, down in 18th place on the Movistar Yamaha and eight places behind senior team-mate Valentino Rossi who dropped from fourth to tenth place when the chequered flag appeared.
The Petronas Yamaha team trounced their works counterparts as Fabio Quartararo ended two places ahead of Rossi and one behind Qatar winner Andrea Dovizioso in seventh place. Alex Rins was ninth on a 1'40.821.
Espargaros occupied 12th and 13th behind Taka Nakagami, with Aleix's Aprilia trailing Pol's KTM 0.237s while the still-injured Jorge Lorenzo is down in 14th place, one ahead of Tito Rabat.
KTM rookie Miguel Oliviera ended his morning in 15th, just ahead of Avintia Ducati's Karel Abraham. Joan Mir and Danilo Petrucci suffered separate turn-one crashes to finished in 19th and 20th with Bangaia and Syahrin completing the field.
