Maverick Vinales and Aprilia dominated the opening practice session for the Argentina Grand Prix by a commanding 0.284s, while Fabio Quartarararo faces the danger of Q1 down in 15th.
A brief rain shower shortly prior to the session meant things got underway slowly in the early stages of FP1 as the riders waited the circuit to fully dry, though fortunately this didn’t take long and times quickly began to decrease.
Vinales was quick out the blocks as the first rider into the 1:40s, though he was demoted to second by LCR Honda’s Takaaki Nakagami in short order.
The times continued to shuffle downwards further and further as Marco Bezzecchi became the first man to dip underneath the 1:40 mark with a 1:39.700s as the session raced towards its climax, though Vinales would ultimately get the last laugh.
The Spaniard was in commanding form as he fired in a pair of laps good enough for the top spot, his best time of 1:39.207s leaving him 0.284s clear of Aprilia team-mate Aleix Espargaro as the Italian manufacturer looks to repeat its historic maiden series victory it secured at the Termas de Rio Hondo venue last year.
Jorge Martin was third fastest for Pramac Ducati ahead of Nakagami, who showed decent speed for Honda as he lapped only 0.376s away from Vinales’ benchmark.
Alex Marquez completed the top five for Gresini Ducati ahead of Johann Zarco on the sister Pramac entry, with Luca Marini grabbing seventh.
Franco Morbidelli eased his Yamaha into eighth late on ahead of Portuguese GP podium man Marco Bezzecchi, while reigning MotoGP world champion Francesco Bagnaia narrowly held onto the final provisional automatic-Q2 passage in tenth ahead of Alex Rins – the LCR man the only rider to suffer a crash after going down at Turn 1 in the session’s final stanza.
Quartararo meanwhile struggled to string a lap together at the end of the session, with his best effort leaving him a second from the top and down in a lowly 15th – a position that could prove detrimental should rain make a return for the afternoon FP2 test.
KTM also failed to show much one-lap pace, with rookie Augusto Fernandez the fastest of the RC16 pilots in 13th for GasGas ahead of factory men Jack Miller and Brad Binder, who could muster up only the 14th and 16th best gambits respectively.
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