Argentina MotoGP Race Report, Results and Championship Points

MotoGP 2022 – Round Three
Argentina – Race Report/Results/Points

The Gran Premio Michelin de la Republica Argentina will go down in the record books as the first ever premier class win for Aprilia and Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia Racing).  The Argentina GP also marked Espargaro’s 200th premier class start, with the stage perfectly set to celebrate in style as the long road from 125s to 250s to MotoGP, back to Moto2, through the CRT era to MotoGP factory rider ended on the top step of the premier class podium. This also makes Aleix the first rider to claim pole with three different manufacturers in MotoGP. And now he has win under his belt, every manufacturer on the grid has now won a MotoGP race and every rider on the grid now has a Grand Prix victory.

For the Noale-based manufacturer, one of the most victorious brands in the history of motorcycle racing, this is win number 295 for Aprilia in World Championship GP Motorcycle Racing, the first in the new four-stroke era of the premier two-wheeler class, after countless wins in the 125 and 250 cc categories.

It didn’t come easy either, with Pramac Racing’s Jorge Martin leading the way for much of the race and then battling it out, ultimately forced to settle for second but taking his first podium of the year. Alex Rins (Team Suzuki Ecstar) likewise took his first podium of 2022 and first since Silverstone last season, the Suzuki rider close to the duel ahead but not quite close enough to attack.

Still, that has made for nine different riders on the podium across opening three rounds of MotoGP.  Aleix Espargaro now enjoys a seven-point lead over Brad Binder while previous championship leader Enea Bastianini slips to third, but is still the highest placed Ducati rider. The top three places in the championship are on three different brands, none of which are Japanese.

Ducati lead the Constructors Championship though on 61-points to KTM’s tally of 55, and Aprilia’s 45. The highest ranked Japanese brand is Suzuki on 37-points and it is also Team Suzuki Ecstar that lead the Team’s Championship on 69-points, ahead of Red Bull KTM on 66 and Aprilia Racing on 58. 

Argentina MotoGP Race Report

For the first time since 2019, it was lights out in Argentina and Martin got away superbly from the middle of the front row for the hole-shot. Pol Espargaro (Repsol Honda Team) launched well to move up into P3 as well, just behind pole-sitter and older brother Aleix Espargaro as it got close but not full contact close at the front.

The top two, Martin and Aleix Espargaro, soon started to stretch clear. The gap was up to a second pretty rapidly as Pol Espargaro and Rins battled past Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) and a whole host of riders sat line astern. Reigning World Champion Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP), meanwhile, had dropped back to P13 from the second row, with Indonesian GP winner Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) behind him and the likes of Johann Zarco (Pramac Racing), Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu), Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP) and Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) all making moves in the initial freight train.

The gap at the front extended and extended fast. Martin and Aleix Espargaro soon had a buffer of two seconds to Rins and Pol Espargaro, with Joan Mir (Team Suzuki Ecstar) into P5 ahead of Marini, who in turn had Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing), Bagnaia and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) for close company.

Lap 10 of 25 saw Aleix Espargaro run wide at Turn 1, losing 0.4s, and then the Aprilia man ran wide at Turn 5 – two mistakes in five corners costing the Spaniard 0.9s. That left Rins just a second in arrears as the Suzuki rider kept chipping away at the gap and Martin’s lead, with 15 laps to go, was up to just over a second. The response from Aleix Espargaro? The fastest lap of the Grand Prix – a 1:39.375, 0.4s quicker than Martin.

After Zarco crashed out earlier, the next to suffer a crash was then Pol Espargaro, rider ok. That promoted Mir to P4, but the 2020 World Champion had two seconds to bridge if he wanted to fight his team-mate Rins for the final podium spot.

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Up front meanwhile, Aleix Espargaro had regrouped and was now back to where he was before the double error – 0.3s behind Martin – and the first hint of a move came with eight laps to go. The Aprilia moved out the slipstream and was ahead, but it was only briefly. Hard on the anchors, Espargaro couldn’t get his RS-GP stopped at the apex and Martin was back through.

A lap later, it was copy/paste at Turn 5. Still no way through for Espargaro, who looked like he had a bit of pace in his pocket over Martin. But then, at the third attempt at Turn 5, the Aprilia was through.

With four and a half laps to go, Aprilia and Espargaro were leading. With three to go, Martin hadn’t been dropped by Espargaro, and Rins was now 0.8s behind too. Two to go: 0.2s split the top two, and Rins was still just under a second in further arrears.

Heading onto the last lap though, it looked like the stage was set. Espargaro had been able to give himself just over half a second of breathing space, and a monumentally huge lap was incoming for the number 41 and Aprilia – with just 4.8km of asphalt separating him from a dream debut victory. Turn 5 was safely negotiated. Turn 7 too. Three corners left quickly become two. Turn 13 was safely negotiated, no attack from Martin incoming, and finally, flicking his RS-GP left, Espargaro took the chequered flag in P1 for the very first time, handing Aprilia their first premier class victory and adding another entry into the record books.

Just behind, Martin had no answer in the end for Espargaro but second place is crucial to kickstart his World Championship after two DNFs in Qatar and Indonesia, putting him on the board. Rins completed the podium for his first visit to the rostrum in 2022, and in the end, Mir was only 0.5s away from his team-mate and podium finish. That has put Team Suzuki Ecstar top of the teams’ standings, with Ducati top in the consctructors’ thanks to Martin. Aleix Espargaro, meanwhile, leads the riders’ Championship for the first time.

Bagnaia put in an impressive Sunday salvage to take P5, the Italian getting the better of Brad Binder. Viñales enjoyed by far his best weekend yet with Aprilia as he takes home P7, ahead of former team-mate Quartararo. The reigning Champion took P8 after battling with many riders throughout the race before finally managing to break away a little to that eighth place and was the first Yamaha home as his team-mate Franco Morbidelli recorded a DNF due to a puncture.

Marco Bezzecchi (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) upped the rookie ante with an impressive ninth place as he takes over at the top in the fight for Rookie of the Year, and the Italian beat compatriots Bastianini and Marini to it too. The ‘Beast’ loses the points lead after a P10, with Marini slipping down the order to P11.

Takaaki Nakagami (LCR Honda Idemitsu) fended off Oliveira for P12, with Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team) behind them as the Australian couldn’t make progress on Sunday afternoon and picked up a lowly P14. Miller reported that if he strayed an inch from the ideal cornering line he had no grip, thus could not overtake.  Alex Marquez (LCR Honda Castrol) claimed the final point in P15.

Aleix Espargaro – P1

“I’m very proud of this milestone we’ve reached. We tackled a long path to get here, but we’ve finally done it! It was a fantastic weekend, but it wasn’t a simple race. In practice I was extremely fast, as well as in the warm-up session, but in the race I struggled a bit with a lack of grip. I didn’t lose heart. I tried changing the electronic settings several times to overcome these problems and, in the end, I managed to improve. I was faster than Martín by a few tenths, but it wasn’t at all easy to overtake him, partly because it was a new situation for me. I had never been in the position to battle for a win in MotoGP. It was truly exciting, especially the last lap. I am extremely happy for Aprilia, for me, and for my family. We deserve it. I would like to thank again all the team, who is working hard in Noale and the Piaggio Group for the support. Now we’re leading in the championship, but we’ll just try to take advantage of this positive moment, continuing to have fun and keeping our feet planted firmly on the ground.”

History made and party begun, that’s a wrap and we have some new winners in town as the paddock packs up and heads for Texas. What awaits in the Red Bull Grand Prix of the Americas and, maybe crucially, who? The top step has only belonged to two, this weekend will likely see the next chapter written in the story – with the sport also celebrating a very special milestone: 500 Grands Prix of the FIM, IRTA, MSMA and Dorna Racing together.

 Argentina MotoGP Race Results

2022 Argentina MotoGP Podium

MotoGP Championship Points Standings

Moto2 Race Results

Moto2 Championship Standings

Moto3 Race Results

Moto3 Championship Standings