Marquez and Pedrosa lead the timesheet on first day in Argentina

Marc Marquez and Dani Pedrosa showed great form on day one at the Argentine GP, topping the FP2 timesheet with the first and second best lap times, respectively. The Repsol Honda duo was separated by a mere 25 thousandths of a second. With Jack Miller and Cal Crutchlow finishing fourth and fifth, Honda riders occupied four of the five spots today.
Working with their crews on electronics and bike setup, Marquez and Pedrosa built on the positive work they had already carried out in the morning’s FP1 session. The afternoon was challenging, with greasy, slippery track conditions prompted by the soaring temperatures (33° C air, 55° ground) but the team made the most of the situation.
FP3 will commence tomorrow at 09:55 with weather forecast threatening rain.

Marc Marquez 93 1ST 1'41.579
"Today was a bit of a strange day, but the feeling was good in the end and we finished first on the timesheets. I think that the conditions will change a lot during the weekend, even from the first to the second session we saw the surface improve, although not as much as we had expected. So far track conditions are worse than last season so it seems that the times will be a long way off those from last year, but it will be the same for everyone and we are trying to manage it in the best way possible and adapt the bike as best we can."

Dani Pedrosa 26 2ND 1'41.604
"On this first day we were able to ride on a dry track, and we saw that it was very dirty. It was a little difficult and the times were a little slower than we had expected. However, we worked as hard as we could with the setup of the bike, and we also made several tyre tests in case it will be raining tomorrow. It was a positive day, but as always we will try to keep improving."

Day-1 Results

Pos. Rider Num Nation Team Constructor Time/Gap
1 MARQUEZ Marc 93 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'41.579
2 PEDROSA Dani 26 SPA Repsol Honda Team Honda 1'41.604
3 VINALES Maverick 25 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'42.047
4 MILLER Jack 43 AUS Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'42.375
5 CRUTCHLOW Cal 35 GBR LCR Honda Honda 1'42.451
6 REDDING Scott 45 GBR Octo Pramac Racing Ducati 1'42.458
7 ROSSI Valentino 46 ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'42.565
8 ESPARGARO Aleix 41 SPA Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 1'42.576
9 SMITH Bradley 38 GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'42.595
10 DOVIZIOSO Andrea 4 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'42.635
11 BARBERA Hector 8 SPA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'42.664
12 LAVERTY Eugene 50 IRE Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 1'42.724
13 ESPARGARO Pol 44 SPA Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 1'42.774
14 LORENZO Jorge 99 SPA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 1'42.819
15 IANNONE Andrea 29 ITA Ducati Team Ducati 1'42.953
16 BAZ Loris 76 FRA Avintia Racing Ducati 1'43.054
17 HERNANDEZ Yonny 68 COL Aspar MotoGP Team Ducati 1'43.242
18 RABAT Tito 53 SPA Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 1'43.538
19 BAUTISTA Alvaro 19 SPA Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'43.800
20 BRADL Stefan 6 GER Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 1'43.892
21 PIRRO Michele 51 ITA Ducati Team Ducati