Marquez, Crutchlow, Pedrosa: the Honda armada in Argentina!

Termas de Rio Hondo (Argentina), April 7: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team) led the way by some margin on Day 1 and the reigning World champion was chased by both Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol) and FP1’s fastest Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda Team) as Honda reigned supreme on Friday in the Argentina MotoGP.

All have been on the podium at the venue, and Marquez is a previous winner, making the form book another positive read. So, after the first two sessions, what do the three men think of their Friday?

“Today was a good day for us, I mean, we started in a good way,” begins Marquez. “We did, I think, a good plan for the practice. We even tried a few setups, we tried a few tyres, more or less I like it, but the tyres are still some gap because both tyres are working quite well. Anyway, we are working in a good way.

“Today it’s a slippery track and when it’s slippery it’s my place. I mean, when it’s slippery I feel so comfortable and maybe the others are struggling more…but tomorrow will improve the grip and even more on Sunday. So, everything will be closer and closer.”

Pedrosa agrees on the slippery and was another who was positive given the weather. “The track is always quite slippery here on the first day which makes the first practice a bit tougher,” says Pedrosa, despite going quickest in FP1.

“The parts that had been resurfaced seem better in terms of the bumps, but the asphalt was too dirty to really understand what the grip was like. This morning, we worked on the tyres, trying to make the best of the dry conditions as the weather forecasts for the weekend aren’t good. We’ll see how the weather is tomorrow, and we’ll keep working for Sunday.”

Crutchlow, meanwhile – and despite taking the top three in both sessions – says there are a few specifics to work on for him, mainly with the wind, which picked up in the afternoon.

“We still have some small issues that we want to look into because the wind was so strong this afternoon,” explains the LCR rider. “It didn’t feel strong when we were here or anything like that, but as soon as we got onto the track it was horrendous and we need to make the bike turn a little bit better in that kind of situation because it could be the same on Sunday, we don’t know. But overall, we are happy enough. I think we could have been faster, but we are happy with today. The main thing was to be in the top 10 in case it rains in the night.”

If the rain comes in for FP3 and Q2, graduation is already set, Honda are in the hot seat.

SETBACK FOR DOVI, LORENZO

After the highs of the Qatar GP, Andrea Dovizioso (Ducati Team) had a less memorable Friday Free Practice session. The Championship leader, along with team-mate Jorge Lorenzo, failed to make it into the top-10, meaning both factory Ducatis could have to go through Q1 in qualifying on Saturday if the weather moves in for FP3 and lap times don’t improve.

Dovizioso said: “Today, we found a few negative things and I didn’t have the feeling. In the afternoon there was a lot of wind and it was even harder. But I think we have to be calm, and study every detail, and I think if we put a few things together we can be in front.

“I don’t know which position, but for sure, Marquez is, like always, on a different level on this track, but the point is, a lot of riders are often fast in practice. So if your feeling is not 100%, it’s easy to be at the back.

“I hope to have minimum one practice in the dry tomorrow because we have to try other things and I have to work on the track so let’s see the weather tomorrow.”

With the factory riders finding it tougher going, it was instead Tito Rabat (Reale Avintia Racing) who put in a stellar ride to end the day fourth and top Ducati as he gains more and more confidence on his Desmosedici.

The 2014 Moto2™ World Champion was nearly four-tenths ahead of the next Borgo Panigale machine – Jack Miller (Alma Pramac Racing) – who squeezed into the top-10 having been fifth quickest after FP1.

“I feel very good because we make very good day, we work well and I feel very good on the bike with these conditions,” Rabat says. “The important thing today is I enjoy, we go fast and now we have some very important work for tomorrow to make a good qualifying and for Sunday it’s most important make good race. I like this bike, I like this bike and my team a lot.”

ROSSI, VINALES OFF PACE

Meanwhile, Maverick Viñales (Movistar Yamaha MotoGP) and his team-mate Valentino Rossi finished the day in P6 and P7 respectively, and both riders are remaining positive despite being over a second off Marc Marquez’s (Repsol Honda Team) pace.

“My feelings today have been mixed,” said Viñales. “I felt quite confident on the bike this morning, but honestly, I didn‘t feel the same way in the afternoon. I was happy that, in the end, I provisionally qualified for Q2 in FP2, because it was difficult. Tomorrow, if it rains, it would have been tricky to get inside the top ten.”

The two were separated by just 0.067 seconds at the end of the day, with Rossi particularly upbeat about his pace on the harder compound tyre.

“The main target was to stay in the top 10 because the weather is very difficult to predict,” the ‘Doctor’ began. “I’m quite happy with my pace on the hard tyres because I feel confident with the bike. Unfortunately, I put the soft on at the end but I wasn’t able to improve like I expect because with the soft tyre I don’t feel very good.”

Source: MotoGP.com