2022 Argentina MotoGP FP2 Result: Aleix Espargaro Leads Aprilia Assault | MotoMatters.com

Submitted by Zara Daniela on Sat, 2022-04-02 20:07

The second hour-long practice session of the day was a very slow build-up to the first time attack in the premier class, although the late shootout made no impression on the two Aprilias that held the lead for the entirety of FP2. Although Maverick Viñales had a quick taste of top spot, it was teammate Aleix Espargaro who sat pretty at the front for most of the session, even affording to skip the final few minutes and still end up two tenths ahead of the field. Viñales stayed a very respectable second, while Jack Miller was the lead Ducati, unknowingly timing it right to avoid late yellow flag drama.

Fabio Quartararo also kept close, only two tenths off top spot, with Brad Binder as the top KTM in fifth, after having to ditch his first machine in a cloud of smoke halfway through the session. Alex Rins and Joan Mir continued their consistent run inside the top seven, while teammates Jorge Martin and Johann Zarco added a few more Ducatis to the mix after a slower start in the morning session.

The final top 10 position seemed highly disputed and ended up at the mercy of yellow flags. The tale starts with Pecco Bagnaia getting frustrated with his chasers and pulling aside quite questionably along the main straight, leaving himself with one less lap to make an impact on the timesheets. A scrappy penultimate lap didn’t bring an improvement and then Marco Bezzecchi crashed at turn 1 right next to him, bringing out yellow flags and effectively ending the session early for most of his rivals. The one man who did escape the unintended punishment was teammate Luca Marini, whose final lap placed him in the top 10 and pushed Miguel Oliveira out of Q2 contention. Bagnaia was left 12th, ahead of FP1 leader Takaaki Nakagami and Franco Morbidelli, while championship leader Enea Bastianini was also caught out by yellow flags and had to settle for 16th. It was a particularly bad session for Honda, with Pol Espargaro taking a tumble at turn one 20 minutes into the session and then struggling to go quicker than 17th place, almost one second off the leading Aprilia.

Results:

Pos	No.	Rider	Bike	Time	Diff	Prev
1	41	Aleix Espargaro	Aprilia	1:38.244
2	12	Maverick Viñales	Aprilia	1:38.454	0.210	0.210
3	43	Jack Miller	Ducati	1:38.463	0.219	0.009
4	20	Fabio Quartararo	Yamaha	1:38.471	0.227	0.008
5	33	Brad Binder	KTM	1:38.548	0.304	0.077
6	42	Alex Rins	Suzuki	1:38.619	0.375	0.071
7	36	Joan Mir	Suzuki	1:38.626	0.382	0.007
8	89	Jorge Martin	Ducati	1:38.704	0.460	0.078
9	5	Johann Zarco	Ducati	1:38.797	0.553	0.093
10	10	Luca Marini	Ducati	1:38.915	0.671	0.118
11	88	Miguel Oliveira	KTM	1:38.924	0.680	0.009
12	63	Francesco Bagnaia	Ducati	1:38.943	0.699	0.019
13	30	Takaaki Nakagami	Honda	1:38.951	0.707	0.008
14	21	Franco Morbidelli	Yamaha	1:38.959	0.715	0.008
15	72	Marco Bezzecchi	Ducati	1:38.973	0.729	0.014
16	23	Enea Bastianini	Ducati	1:38.985	0.741	0.012
17	44	Pol Espargaro	Honda	1:39.178	0.934	0.193
18	87	Remy Gardner	KTM	1:39.503	1.259	0.325
19	73	Alex Marquez	Honda	1:39.553	1.309	0.050
20	25	Raul Fernandez	KTM	1:39.600	1.356	0.047
21	4	Andrea Dovizioso	Yamaha	1:39.749	1.505	0.149
22	6	Stefan Bradl	Honda	1:39.940	1.696	0.191
23	49	Fabio Di Giannantonio	Ducati	1:40.040	1.796	0.100
24	40	Darryn Binder	Yamaha	1:40.078	1.834	0.038