Marquez Crashed, Vinales Fastest
Marquez Crashed, Vinales Fastest
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BUENOS AIRES - Maverick Vinales was fastest in first practice for the second round of the MotoGP season in Argentina, as Marc Marquez suffered a crash.
Fears the state of the little-used Termas de Rio Hondo circuit would cost riders meaningful running on Friday morning were eased early, with times quickly dropping into the 1m 41s barrier.
Vinales’ 1m 41.469s set 12 minutes in was faster than the best time recorded across the two Friday practice sessions in Argentina 12 months ago.
Having moved into top spot, Qatar winner Vinales then had a violent near-highside - which prompted his airbag to go off on landing, coming through the final sequence of corners nearing the 15 minute mark.
Tech 3 Yamaha rookie, Johann Zarco grabbed top spot briefly with 20 minutes remaining, with a 1m 41.258s, but Vinales quickly reasserted himself with a 1m40.796s that was 0.462 seconds clear of the pack.
Marquez crashed at Turn 2 just before Zarco and Vinales upped the pace at the front, having lost the front end of his Honda, but the world champion headed back out on his second bike and cut that gap to 0.162s inside the final 10 minutes.
Vinales opted to fit the harder rear tyre for his last run as many riders used the soft chasing a lap time and improved twice again.
The Spaniard set a 1m40.385s with seven minutes remaining, and improved to 1m40.356s three minutes later to end the session with an advantage of 0.206s.
He was followed by four satellite riders, who all improved late on; Danilo Petrucci on Pramac’s 2017 Ducati, Zarco and his Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger and Aspar's Karel Abraham on the 2015-spec Ducati.
Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone was sixth and 0.345s adrift, as the lead works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, Avintia’s Hector Barbera, Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller and Aspar’s Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top 10.
![Marquez Crashed, Vinales Fastest]()
Marquez, who won in Argentina last year, did not improve in the closing stages and wound up 11th, ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the first of the Aprilias.
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were anonymous for the bulk of the morning, sitting 17th and 18th in the order before their final runs.
Runs on soft tyres vaulted Lorenzo up to fifth and Rossi eighth, but they were ultimately bumped back down to 15th and 16th, with Rossi the last rider lapping within one second of Vinales.
Riding with an injured right ankle, Suzuki rookie Alex Rins was 17th, while Pol Espargaro led the way for KTM in 20th, 1.473s off the ultimate pace.
Fears the state of the little-used Termas de Rio Hondo circuit would cost riders meaningful running on Friday morning were eased early, with times quickly dropping into the 1m 41s barrier.
Vinales’ 1m 41.469s set 12 minutes in was faster than the best time recorded across the two Friday practice sessions in Argentina 12 months ago.
Having moved into top spot, Qatar winner Vinales then had a violent near-highside - which prompted his airbag to go off on landing, coming through the final sequence of corners nearing the 15 minute mark.
Tech 3 Yamaha rookie, Johann Zarco grabbed top spot briefly with 20 minutes remaining, with a 1m 41.258s, but Vinales quickly reasserted himself with a 1m40.796s that was 0.462 seconds clear of the pack.
Marquez crashed at Turn 2 just before Zarco and Vinales upped the pace at the front, having lost the front end of his Honda, but the world champion headed back out on his second bike and cut that gap to 0.162s inside the final 10 minutes.
Vinales opted to fit the harder rear tyre for his last run as many riders used the soft chasing a lap time and improved twice again.
The Spaniard set a 1m40.385s with seven minutes remaining, and improved to 1m40.356s three minutes later to end the session with an advantage of 0.206s.
He was followed by four satellite riders, who all improved late on; Danilo Petrucci on Pramac’s 2017 Ducati, Zarco and his Tech 3 teammate Jonas Folger and Aspar's Karel Abraham on the 2015-spec Ducati.
Suzuki rider Andrea Iannone was sixth and 0.345s adrift, as the lead works Ducati of Andrea Dovizioso, Avintia’s Hector Barbera, Marc VDS Honda’s Jack Miller and Aspar’s Alvaro Bautista rounded out the top 10.
Marquez, who won in Argentina last year, did not improve in the closing stages and wound up 11th, ahead of Aleix Espargaro on the first of the Aprilias.
Jorge Lorenzo and Valentino Rossi were anonymous for the bulk of the morning, sitting 17th and 18th in the order before their final runs.
Runs on soft tyres vaulted Lorenzo up to fifth and Rossi eighth, but they were ultimately bumped back down to 15th and 16th, with Rossi the last rider lapping within one second of Vinales.
Riding with an injured right ankle, Suzuki rookie Alex Rins was 17th, while Pol Espargaro led the way for KTM in 20th, 1.473s off the ultimate pace.
(rnz)
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