Nakagami miraculously arrives to lead FP1 in Argentina

Takaaki Nakagami led, ahead of Fabio Quartararo and Pol Espargaró, the first free practice session of the Argentine Grand Prix weekend, one of the most atypical ever in the premier class, as it was held early on Saturday afternoon, after Friday’s session was suspended due to the breakdown of one of the cargo planes that was supposed to carry the team’s material to Termas de Río Hondo.

A delay that affected various teams, especially the VR46, which did not receive any of the boxes of its material until late at night in Argentina, forcing a second change in the program, suspending the initially planned FP3 and starting shooting past half past twelve at noon.

The delay in the activity on the track, however, had a beneficiary, the Japanese Takaaki Nakagami, who after testing positive for covid Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, and announcing that he was not going to travel to Argentina, managed to give a negative PCR on Thursday with just enough time to take a plane and arrive in Tucumán at midnight on Friday.

Precisely the Japanese came out with a lot of enthusiasm for FP1, setting the first fast lap 53 minutes from the end of the session, before Jorge Martín, Alex Rins and Fabio Quartararo did the same consecutively, responding the Japanese Honda 43 ‘from the end (1.40.473).

A first part of practice in which the riders sought to rediscover a track that they hadn’t been to for three years, riding with medium rear tire (all at the beginning) and gradually lowering the times, until Aleix Espargaró managed to connect three laps consecutive quick runs to drop the time to 1.39.509 with 22 minutes to go.

In the final part of the practice session, Nakagami mounted soft rear rubber and returned to lead the times (1.39.486), with Quartararo responding (1.39.216) before the Japanese established, already at the last minute, the best time of the day (1.39.028), very close to the record for the track in the race, signed by Valentino Rossi in 2019 (1.39.019).

Quartararo finished second at 1 tenth, with Pol Espargaró, once back on standard Michelin tyres, third, just ahead of his brother Aleix who was fourth.

The rookie Marco Bezzecchi, who 24 hours ago didn’t even have the bikes in Termas, was fifth, ahead of Alex Rins and Miguel Oliveira, the winner in Indonesia. An improved Maverick Viñales was eighth, ahead of Brad Binder, with Joan Mir closing the top 10 giving provisional access to Q2.

Outside the top ten were Enea Bastianini, Pecco Bagnaia, Johann Zarco, Jack Miller or Jorge Martín, who was 20th.

MotoGP FP1 classification:

Cla	#	Pilot		Motorcycle	laps	Weather	Difference	Interval	Km/h	Top speed
1	30	Takaaki Nakagami		Honda	25	1’39,028			174.714	0
2	20	Fabio Quartararo		Yamaha	28	1’39,155	0.127	0.127	174.490	0
3	44	Pol Espargaro		Sling	24	1’39,223	0.195	0.068	174,370	0
4	41	Aleix Espargaró		April	19	1’39,224	0.196	0.001	174,369	0
5	72	Marco Bezzecchi		Ducati	21	1’39.230	0.202	0.006	174.358	0
6	42	Alex Rins		Suzuki	26	1’39.274	0.246	0.044	174.281	0
7	88	Miguel Oliveira		KTM	26	1’39,318	0.290	0.044	174,204	0
8	12	Maverick Viñales		Aprilia	23	1’39.396	0.368	0.078	174.067	0
9	33	Brad Binder		KTM	26	1’39.425	0.397	0.029	174.016	0
10	36	Joan Mir		Suzuki	26	1’39.427	0.399	0.002	174.013	0
see results

Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP

1/50

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Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP

2/50

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Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP

3/50

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Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP

4/50

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Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

5/50

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Brad Binder, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

6/50

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

7/50

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

8/50

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

9/50

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Fabio Quartararo, Yamaha Factory Racing

10/50

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Francesco Bagnaia, Equipo Ducati

11/50 _

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Francesco Bagnaia, Equipo Ducati

12/50 _

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Francesco Bagnaia, Equipo Ducati

13/50 _

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Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

14/50

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Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

15/50

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Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

16 / 50

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Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

17 / 50

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Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

18 / 50

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Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

19 / 50

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Maverick Viñales, Aprilia Racing Team

20/50

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Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

21/50

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Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

22/50

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Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

23/50

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Miguel Oliveira, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing

24/50

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda

25/50 _

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda

26/50 _

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda

27/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Equipo LCR Honda

28/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda

29/50 _

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Aleix Espargaró, Aprilia Racing Team

30/50 _

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Alex Rins, Team Suzuki MotoGP

31/50

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda,

32/50 _

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda,

33/50 _

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Stefan Bradl, Equipo Repsol Honda,

34/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Equipo LCR Honda

35/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Equipo LCR Honda

36/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Equipo LCR Honda

37/50 _

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Takaaki Nakagami, Team LCR Honda

38/50 _

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Francesco Bagnaia, Equipo Ducati

39/50 _

Photo de: MotoGP

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

40/50 _

Photo de: MotoGP

Franco Morbidelli, Yamaha Factory Racing

41/50 _

Photo de: MotoGP

Jack Miller, Ducati Team

42 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

Joan Mir, Team Suzuki MotoGP

43 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

Johann Zarco, Pramac Racing, Jorge Martin, Pramac Racing

44 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

The fans in the pitlane

45 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

Motorcycles in the pitlane

46 / 50

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aerobatic pilot

47 / 50

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Raul Fernandez, KTM Tech3

48 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

Remy Gardner, KTM Tech3, Raul Fernandez, KTM Tech3

49 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP

Stefan Bradl, Repsol Honda Team, Alex Marquez, LCR Honda Team

50 / 50

Photo by: MotoGP