Practice report
MotoGP Argentinian GP
Argentina GP: Marquez leads Miller in first practice
Reigning MotoGP champion Marc Marquez commanded the opening practice session for this week's Argentina Grand Prix, beating Jack Miller by over three tenths of a second.
Jamie Klein
Edited: Mar 29, 2019, 3:06 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Marquez was the first rider to dip into the 1m40s at the Termas de Rio Hondo track, and early on in the 45-minute session he enjoyed a one-second buffer over the opposition.
That was eroded in the latter stages, but the Honda rider was always able to stay a step ahead of his rivals, setting two times good enough to top the session.
A 1m39.885s put him just under three tenths ahead of Pramac Ducati rider Miller, before a 1m39.827s at the chequered flag left him 0.353s in the clear.
Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda) briefly went second-quickest in the final five minutes but was beaten to the runner-up spot by Miller by just 0.035s.
Best of the Yamahas was Petronas SRT rider Franco Morbidelli, 0.492s off the pace in fourth, while Aprilia's Andrea Iannone and KTM's Johann Zarco both posted times within six tenths of Marquez to complete the top six.
Qatar winner Andrea Dovizioso was seventh on the best of the works Ducatis, followed by Fabio Quartararo (Petronas), top Suzuki man Alex Rins and factory Yamaha rider Valentino Rossi, who completed the top 10 with a time exactly one second slower than Marquez.
Jorge Lorenzo had a low-key start to the Termas weekend with 14th place in FP1, 1.513s adrift, as he recovers from injuries sustained earlier this month in Qatar.
Maverick Vinales likewise suffered an indifferent session, albeit having said he would use it trying to practice overtaking rivals rather than focussing on outright pace.
Vinales ended the session in 18th, 0.830s behind works Yamaha teammate Rossi.
Danilo Petrucci was one of two riders to crash at Turn 1 - the other being Suzuki's Joan Mir - and consequently ended up down in 20th, ahead of only Pramac's Francesco Bagnaia and Tech 3 KTM rider Hafizh Syahrin.
Practice times:
Pos. # Rider Bike Time Gap 1 93 
Marc Marquez Honda 1'39.827 2 43 
Jack Miller Ducati 1'40.180 0.353 3 35 
Cal Crutchlow Honda 1'40.215 0.388 4 21 
Franco Morbidelli Yamaha 1'40.319 0.492 5 29 
Andrea Iannone Aprilia 1'40.366 0.539 6 5 
Johann Zarco KTM 1'40.387 0.560 7 4 
Andrea Dovizioso Ducati 1'40.595 0.768 8 20 
Fabio Quartararo Yamaha 1'40.676 0.849 9 42 
Alex Rins Suzuki 1'40.821 0.994 10 46 
Valentino Rossi Yamaha 1'40.827 1.000 11 30 
Takaaki Nakagami Honda 1'40.857 1.030 12 44 Pol Espargaro KTM 1'41.066 1.239 13 41 
Aleix Espargaro Aprilia 1'41.303 1.476 14 99 
Jorge Lorenzo Honda 1'41.340 1.513 15 53 
Tito Rabat Ducati 1'41.509 1.682 16 88 
Miguel Oliveira KTM 1'41.513 1.686 17 17 
Karel Abraham Ducati 1'41.641 1.814 18 12 Maverick Viñales Yamaha 1'41.657 1.830 19 36 Joan Mir Suzuki 1'41.692 1.865 20 9 
Danilo Petrucci Ducati 1'41.768 1.941 21 63 Francesco Bagnaia Ducati 1'41.875 2.048 22 55 
Hafizh Syahrin KTM 1'42.679 2.852
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Ducati: Appeal cost same as half of wind tunnel budget
Next article MotoGP's Aldridge defends Ducati winglet ruling
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jamie Klein
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Ayumu Iwasa wins as Kakunoshin Ohta misses chance to seal title
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Super Formula
Super Formula
Fuji II
Super Formula Fuji: Igor Fraga wins while Kakunoshin Ohta closes on title
Latest news
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
24 min
Laurent Mekies extends contract as Red Bull's F1 team boss
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 51 min
Alex Palou to drive Indy NXT machinery in Chris Griffis Memorial Test at IMS
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
1 h
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
2 h
Into the unknown: What to expect from WEC's Barcelona debut
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe