Do Cry for Me In Argentina | The Argentine GP with Boris

MotoGP with Boris
2022 – Round Three – Argentina

For someone programmed to deal with MotoGP telecasts which mainly happen on Sunday evening, these wretched fly-away rounds where the time-zones conflict with normal sleep-patterns are brutal. The neighbours understand yelling at 11pm. Not so much at 3.30am.

DO CRY FOR ME IN ARGENTINA

There were tears aplenty at the Argentinian round, and most of them started when there were no planes full of bikes and gear on Wednesday. Or Thursday. Or Friday.

The planes with the bikes and gear arrived in the wee hours of Saturday morning, which forced the teams to do two days of prep in eight hours. Dorna rose brilliantly to the occasion, extending FP1 and FP2 to hour-long sessions, and cancelling the others, which then led the grid straight into Q1 and Q2.

The next set of tears were mine. I normally record these beast-hour races, then watch them in the morning over coffee. The delay had caused my Foxtel box to record car racing which it labelled “Free Practice One”. It recorded some more car racing for Free Practice Two. My screaming was heard from space.

Then someone at Foxtel turned everything off then on again, and I got to see the extended Practice sessions that Saturday afternoon, and Qualifying on Sunday morning.

It was weird. Aleix Espargaro was fast. All the time. Everywhere. He’s only usually fast now and then, then he crashes, or fades back to tenth, and the Aprilia boys walk around staring at the ground.

Hiring Maverick hasn’t worked out just yet either. But even he appeared at the top of the time-sheets at one stage. Had Noale suddenly found something?

There was obviously much to consider. Not the least of which was the absence, once again, of Marc Marquez. That vicious high-side in Warm Up at the previous round in Indonesia, saw Marc’s diplopia come back.

Social Media was awash with rumours of his retirement, but his Instagram feed was just pictures of him training, and HRC’s official position was that he would return when fit enough. I’m sure Puig is up at night sacrificing small animals so that return would be next round at the COTA, where Marquez has been unbeatable. Without him, HRC is just Pol Espargaro eating gravel. Oh, and Bradl, who has replaced Marc 17 times, just keeping the engine ticking over at the back of the field.

When the premier class kicked off, the track looked a lot cleaner than it did when the Moto3 boys first emerged. Clouds of dust were coming off their tyres, and it was clear the track had not been used in a long time. But the weather was lovely, the Argies had rebuilt the grid building that had burned down, and apart from some very unusual grid positions, Termas Di Rio Hondo looked to be go.

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So what was strange? Aleix Esparagro on pole. Martin was next (not so weird), then Luca Marini (very strange), then Pol (OK, no worries), Maverick (WTF?), and Fabulous (to be expected).

Bagnaia was back in 13th, Miller in 14th, and the championship leader, Bastianini, was ahead of them in 12th. Miller had actually been penalised three grid places for upsetting Fabulous during Practice and Race Direction was brutal. To say Miller’s whole weekend was shit-flavoured shit would not be an understatement. He finished 14th as well.

When the lights went out, Jorge Martin just shot off, followed by Aleix and Luca. In a few corners Jorge was nearly half-a-second ahead, while Fabulous went backward once again, and into the clutches of Brad Binder, who’d started in 11th.

Dovizioso was overwhelmed very early into the race, and retired to the pits by Lap Two. Fabulous was now racing for 13th place with Oliveira, while up at the business end, Aleix had closed up on Jorge, and the two of them eked out a one-second lead on Pol, Luca, and Alex Rins.

Maverick had seen enough of the fast blokes and began to fade even as Mir got a wiggle on and passed him to grab seventh.

Fabulous and Zarco exchanged hostilities over 12th place, but neither of them looked vaguely capable of mounting a challenge for the podium. Zarco then decided he’d be a gravel plough and left the track in Turn Two.

Jorge and Aleix were now exchanging fastest laps and had gapped their pursuers by almost two-seconds. Pol looked rather business-like in third, until Rins passed him and Puig went to look for more small animals to sacrifice.

Miller was literally languishing back in 14th, while Morbidelli developed mechanical issues and retired. It was now obvious that Maverick (in 7th) was holding up Bagnaia, and not capable of passing Luca – well, not at this stage. But he was certainly in Pecco’s way.

Jorge could not shake Aleix, and Rins was also interested in making a run for the podium, and looking solid in third ahead of Pol, who was working hard to stay with the Suzuki. Behind them, the pack was all in a nice, spaced-out line as the race worked its way to the mid-point.

Jorge was riding an almost flawless race. He’d run a little wide on a corner or two, and whenever Aleix would close up on him, he’d dial it up a notch and keep him at bay. Then Pol went into the rocks at Turn Two. Puig probably caught a cab to the nearest pet shop when that happened.

Eight laps from the end, Aleix was on Jorge’s back wheel, with Rins working hard 1.6-seconds behind them. Whenever the camera cut away to the Aprilia pit garage, team manager, Romano Albesiano could not bring himself to look at the monitor.

He was thinking what I was thinking, ie. Aleix is gonna stuff this up large style. He has form in that regard. Surely if he had the pace he would have passed Jorge by now?

And then Aleix went for it, briefly grabbing first off Jorge, before running wide and letting the Pramac back through. Rins edged closer to them both.

A lap later, Aleix tried it again, briefly grabbed the lead, then surrendered it back to Jorge again. I’m sure Romano had a bag over his head by this stage.

Then five laps from the end, Aleix made his overtake stick, and block-passed Jorge coming into Turn Five. Rins had closed up on them both, and was now in third with less than a second between him and Jorge in second.

And that was it. Aleix held his nerve until the end, and Jorge Martin had no answer. Rins contented himself with third, which was good to see, given his record for DNF-ing like a 1000 bastards.

Aleix wept like a child. It was his 200th MotoGP ride, and it was his first victory. He was understandably overwhelmed with emotion. This had been a long time coming, and if anyone needed that kind of validation, it was certainly Aleix Espargaro. He now leads the championship.

Thus far, the MotoGP has served us up with nine different podium finishers in three races. Everyone in Aprilia is going to be drunk until they get to Texas next week. And the championship ladder is fascinating. Brad Binder is second, FFS…

Argentina MotoGP Race Results

MotoGP Championship Points Standings