MotoGP riders reflect on opening day of practice in Argentina

MotoGP 2025

Round Two – Argentina – Termas de Rio Hondo – Friday

Marc Márquez – P1

“I immediately felt comfortable. We obviously put more work on the bike compared to Thailand, as it was a long time since I last rode at this track, and it was also my first time here on a Ducati. We made some changes to the electronics and from the second run I felt really good. It’s true that there are some rivals who are very close, so we’ll see if we can improve some more. There’s still margin as the grip is increasing, so we’ll be able to use the torque a lot more. The goal for tomorrow morning is to qualify on the front row.”

Fabio Di Giannantonio – P2

“I am really happy, we did an incredible job with the team. We improved a lot the bike, we know this is our second race, it’s like a test because we didn’t make any kilometers with the bike, and we’re getting to know the Desmosedici GP25 lap by lap. I’m really proud of my team, they understood my needs and they gave me a really good bike. I am happy to be back at our level and to fight for top places. We have a good potential, and we know that we can do great things, now I’m getting better physically and the goal for tomorrow is to continue working like this, getting a good spot on the grid and then fight for the win.”

Alex Marquez – P3

“We’re in the same frame of mind as in Thailand and it was important to get to a completely different circuit and show that we can be quick from the get-go. We were competitive this morning in mixed conditions but also in the afternoon with both medium and soft tyre options. Marc was very quick with the medium one, so we have to make a further step forward set-up wise in order to make up a little bit of time from the riders ahead.”

Brad Binder – P5

“That’s more like it, P5 and straight through to Q2 today. Felt good on the bike today and managed to attack a bit more. The track’s pretty slippery, so you just gotta keep it tidy and stay on top of it. Made some good progress after, so we’re in a decent spot. Ready to crack on tomorrow for super Saturday in Argentina.”

Alex Rins – P6

“Today was a good day. We were able to go directly into Q2, and this is a boost for the whole team. It was quite hard. We’re still preparing for the fight in the Sprint and the Race, but we did gather a lot of information. Let’s see if we can find something for tomorrow. There’s a lot of potential with this bike, and there’s a margin for improvement. But, overall, I’m quite happy with what we did today.”

Johann Zarco – P7

“It’s been a good day overall. I was able to lead FP1 for a decent amount of time and that was positive. I’m happy that the Honda and my riding style have come together so well here. The afternoon was more challenging, as rivals were strong, but I managed to secure my spot in Q2. I’m hoping to maintain the same feeling tomorrow and aim for a strong result in qualifying, and then on the Sprint”.

Fabio Quartararo – P8

“It was a good but also a tough day. I didn’t expect to struggle that much this morning. The most important thing is being in Q2. We are working a lot on rear grip, and we have to see where we can further improve for tomorrow, but I’m feeling pretty happy.”

Francesco Bagnaia – P10

“I struggled in the morning under braking, on corner entry and after releasing the brakes. We made a few adjustments for the afternoon session, and I felt better: I recovered the same feeling I had last year, so I’m happy. Unfortunately, I crashed at the beginning of my second time attack and it’s a pity, because I wanted to ride strong and I felt I could have been three and a half tenths quicker; we’re still in a top ten and that’s good, all things considered.”

Ai Ogura – P11

“It was close. Of course, it’s frustrating – I’m a rider and it’s better to go directly in Q2 because then you know you will start the race at least from P12. But in general, we can be happy about our performance today; five/six tenths off from P1 in the time attack for us is quite ok. The circuit is completely different from Thailand and more flowing, which is where I’m still struggling a bit. Thailand was a bit easier for me, we had two days of testing there and I like the circuit a lot, but here it’s just day one, so let’s wait for tomorrow. The bike seems to work well here though, Bezzecchi is a great reference for us.”

Franco Morbidelli – P12

“I wasn’t feeling good in the fast corners, and I was losing a lot there. I’ve been struggling, but I was almost in Q2, and I’ve been there all day long. Tomorrow the fight for the Q2 spots will be very tricky, we know how it works, hopefully I won’t struggle. But I’m confident and I trust my team, even if today was not perfect, we did the maximum and I’m sure we will improve on Saturday. The goal is to secure the Q2 and then fight for the best place possible on the grid to be as close as I can to the top guys in the Sprint.”

Joan Mir – P13

“Another day of good progress overall. I think there was the potential to be in the top ten but in MotoGP everything needs to be aligned. We missed something on our last exit in the afternoon, so I couldn’t get into the top ten like I was hoping. Coming here I was not sure how we would perform but today has shown that the work we have done over winter has made an improvement because I feel good. We are closer at a track that isn’t the best for me. Now we need to make a plan and take the correct steps to fight for tomorrow.”

Jack Miller – P14

“I felt good in terms of race pace, and in the afternoon I started working with the soft tyre, using a first one to find the best setup and then other two for time attacks. I think I was doing decently, running in the high 1‘38”s after 10 laps. Then, when I went for my first time attack I felt great; the grip was incredible, and I thought, ’Wow, there is some grip around here!‘ But when I switched to the second soft tire, the feeling was the same as at the beginning of the session, and I couldn’t improve. Well, we missed out on Q2 this time, but we have FP4 tomorrow to work on the bike and try to make it through in Q1. With guys like Morbidelli in there, it‘s going to be stressful, but I feel like we are close. We’re on the right path, the bike isn‘t too far off from the others, and we‘re working hard to understand what works best for the YZR-M1.”

Luca Marini – P15

“We started the day really well with FP1 and the lap times were coming easily. In the afternoon we needed to work more to improve our lap time along with everyone else’s and we still need to look at our rear grip. We got some good information today to be able to make some improvements and there are some ideas tomorrow to try to improve it. Q1 will be tough with Mir and other riders but we approach it with our best foot forward. Anything can happen in MotoGP, and we are ready to make the most of any opportunity.”

Maverick Viñales – P16

“We had some good laps, especially in the morning, and in the afternoon’s second run. After that, I could not really improve. I am feeling a lack of front grip, and I am feeling a bit blocked because I can not really improve my lap times. I was happy about the 1’38.315, but I really felt like I had more. As soon as I pushed more, I missed the apex of the corners. We obviously have work to do, understand a bit more the bike, but for sure the KTM works well here. We saw it with Binder and Acosta today, so we just need to try understand how we can get closer to them.”

Fermin Aldeguer – P17

“It was a positive day and surely, we made a step forward compared to the first GP. I like this type of conditions, and we worked well today. Of course, there’s a lot to improve: specifically, we saw today that there’s a little issue with our set-up that we think we can fix tomorrow with a big adjustment. I’m practically convinced that we’ll be able to tell the difference from the morning.”

Miguel Oliveira – P18

“The afternoon session was a bit difficult. I expected to improve much more on the second time attack, but then I got stuck behind Bastianini for two laps and had no chance to improve. Right now, our biggest challenge is during the time attack, as it seems like we need a few different ideas on how to set up the bike more efficiently to take full advantage of the new tires. I feel that with the medium rear tire, we are much closer. There‘s nothing too concerning, and let‘s not forget that this was the first real weekend where we could see if our base setup was working or not. So far, we haven’t made many changes, but we‘ll probably have to start adjusting things more. It only takes a small improvement to make a big difference in lap time, so I‘m confident we can do a good job.”

Somkiat Chantra – P19

“Today was my first time riding the MotoGP bike here in Argentina. It was a bit challenging in the morning with mixed dry and wet conditions, but in the afternoon, the track was fully dry, and we focused on working with the bike to find the right feeling. We improved lap by lap, and during the final time attack, we did better, although a couple of small mistakes prevented me from improving even further. I believe we can take another step tomorrow.”

Raul Fernandez – P20

“It was a difficult day – I didn’t feel so well with the bike. I had a lot of problems, we had a lot of spinning and couldn’t use the new tire to do a time attack. For me this was the main issue. It looks like it’s a small problem but, in this kind of track where you have to use the throttle a lot and get on the power to make sure not lose a lot of meters, meant all of this was my main issue today. On the brakes I felt comfortable, but in the long corners, when I want to turn, I couldn’t and I lost everything there. This is what we have to check and improve for tomorrow. The rest, I’m happy; the bike is working well and has a lot of potential. We saw today how fast Bezzecchi was – obviously, we don’t have the experience from last year here. Now we need to find out what we have to do and I hope we find something for tomorrow.”

Enea Bastianini – P21

“The day has been a disaster to be honest. The conditions were not ideal, but overall the first free practice was difficult for me. This afternoon, I tried to improve a bit, I was feeling confident at the start of my run, I felt like I could ride faster, but as soon as we switched to new tyres, I did not feel any change. We had a similar feeling during the Buriram test, so I really want to understand why we are having this issue, because I don’t like starting from P20 on the grid. We are going to check the data carefully, because the KTM is fast here, we saw it with Binder today, so let’s study everything, and try to arrive on Saturday much stronger.”

Team Managers

Davide Brivio – Trackhouse Aprilia Team Principal

“It was another good day for Ai. We just missed the top 10 by very little, but I think he did a good job and I think we are in a position to try to get into Q2 seriously tomorrow. That will be the target for tomorrow morning. Raul is a bit in trouble. He couldn’t feel comfortable on the bike in Free Practice and Practice, so we are a little bit far away. I think we have some work to do tonight to try to understand what is going on. The Aprilia seems to have good potential here and we have to also put Raul in a position to use this potential.”

Massimo Meregalli – Monster Yamaha Team Director

“The start of the GP at Termas was tricky, as expected. The grip in FP1 is always low here, and the track was also covered with wet patches after last night’s rain, which made it worse for us. This afternoon at the beginning of the Practice, the track conditions were still not optimal, and both riders complained about a lack of grip. Warming up the tyres took a lot of time. But lap by lap the condition of the track improved, and the team had also made a few changes. This created the right circumstances. Álex and Fabio found themselves in the right place at the right time to set good lap times. Having two riders in Q2 is perfect. This was our first goal for this weekend, and we’re glad we achieved it. We will continue to work in the same manner tomorrow to get the best possible starting positions and Sprint results.”

Gino Borsoi – Prima Pramac Yamaha MotoGP Team Director

“It was certainly not an easy day, even though the morning session went quite well. However, in the afternoon Practice session, both Jack and Miguel faced some difficulties. We need to understand how to improve our speed. In terms of race pace, we might not be in such a bad position, but when it comes to pure speed in the time attack, we encounter some issues with both riders. If you look at the standings, the gap between the first and the tenth rider is very small, so even a tenth of a second per lap can make a huge difference. Beyond that, though, we are still missing an overall balance that would allow us to go faster. We need to carefully analyze the data and take steps forward for tomorrow.”

MotoGP Practice

Marc Marquez (Ducati Lenovo Team) slid his way to the summit on Friday which left everyone chasing the Spaniard’s pace heading into Tissot Sprint Saturday.

A late corker from Fabio Di Giannantonio (Pertamina Enduro VR46 Racing Team) and a consistent Friday from Alex Marquez (BK8 Gresini Racing MotoGP) see the Italian and Spaniard sit as the title chase leader’s main early contenders.

Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) narrowly avoids another Q1 showing following a Turn 2 crash in the closing minutes. All five factories are in Q2 too, with Friday throwing up plenty of storylines.

Just as he did in the morning outing, Marc Marquez quickly clambered his way to the top of the Practice time-sheets on Friday afternoon, with Johann Zarco (LCR Honda Castrol) and Marco Bezzecchi (Aprilia Racing) keeping him company up at the sharp end with 25 minutes left on the clock.

Having produced a more than fine day in Free Practice 1 and for the first half of Practice, Zarco’s weekend hit a bump when the Frenchman crashed unhurt at Turn 2. At this stage, Zarco was P3 behind Marquez and Bezzecchi, with Alex Marquez P4. With 20 minutes to go, Bagnaia was sat in P10, seven-tenths away from his team-mate.

One of the first riders to slot a fresh soft Michelin rear tyre in was Pedro Acosta (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing). The sophomore climbed to P2, 0.088s shy of Marquez’s effort, before the oldest lap record in MotoGP was bettered. Bezzecchi’s 1:37.510 was good enough to send Marc Marquez’s 2014 effort packing, as plenty of improvements started rolling in. Bagnaia and Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Factory Racing) were now P4 and P5, with Zarco now down in P8.

Bezzecchi’s lap record didn’t last long though. Marc Marquez put his name back next to the number one with a 1:37.438, with Alex Rins (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) shadowing the World Championship leader to help him leap up to P4.

Heading into the final five minutes, Bagnaia wasn’t desperate for a lap time but the Italian was P6. In other words, not safely into Q2 yet. And then, it was session over for the double MotoGP World Champion. Turn 2 bit, Bagnaia slid into the gravel, and that was all she wrote for the #63 who now had an anxious wait to see if he’d avoid a second consecutive Q1 appearance.

After his early session issues, Fabio Quartararo put his Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP machine in P5 to demote Bagnaia to P7. Binder and Zarco then shoved Bagnaia to P9 with less than a minute left, as Ai Ogura (Trackhouse MotoGP Team) pinched a late P10 – but it wasn’t session done yet. A late Rins flyer saw Ogura get shuffled out the automatic Q2 places, as Bagnaia survived needing to go through Q1 by the skin of his teeth.

Marquez’s final flying lap sees the six-time MotoGP World Champion sit over a tenth clear of the late improving Di Giannantonio, with Alex Marquez, Bezzecchi and Binder the top five at the end of play. Rins, Zarco and Quartararo make sure both Japanese manufacturers have something to shout about so far in Termas, as Acosta and Bagnaia scrape through. Crucial for both riders, as all five manufacturers taste Friday success in Termas.

MotoGP Practice Times

Moto2 Practice

World Championship leader Manuel Gonzalez (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) hit the ground running in Termas de Rio Hondo as the Spaniard ends Moto2 Practice at the top of the Triumph-powered time-sheets.

Gonzalez’s 1:41.713 was 0.160s quicker than Alonso Lopez’s (Team HDR Heidrun) best time, but it was the latters crash on the exit of Turn 3 that signalled the premature end to Practice with a Red Flag. Just over one minute was left unused on the clock, but Lopez was all OK after the crash. Jake Dixon (ELF Marc VDS Racing Team) rounded out the top three on Friday.

Marcos Ramirez (OnlyFans American Racing) and Barry Baltus (Fantic Racing) ease into Q2, with Aron Canet (Fantic Racing) in P6. In the closing stages, Canet suffered a big crash at Turn 11 but has been confirmed as fit for the remainder of the event.

There was drama for another key names too as Diogo Moreira (Italtrans Racing Team) suffered a dramatic fall at Turn 1, missing the remainder of the session and thus finding himself in P15 and heading through Q1. He’ll be looking to make short work of that on Saturday as an interesting set of names get ready to fight it out.

Senna Agius turned his first laps of the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit and finished 1.4-seconds behind his team-mate day one benchmark at the Argentinean venue.

Moto2 Practice Times

Moto3 Practice

David Almansa (Leopard Racing) heads the Moto3 timesheets on Day 1 at Termas, topping a session for the first time in his career and with a new lap record. His advantage was impressive too, with 0.364 in hand over rookie Alvaro Carpe (Red Bull KTM Ajo). Carpe already raised eyebrows in Thailand with a maiden podium first time out and at a venue he’d never previously ridden.

Jose Antonio Rueda (Red Bull KTM Ajo) was third fastest as the Thai GP winner proved a key player once again, and was also second fastest in FP1.

Fourth goes to home hero Valentino Perrone (Red Bull KTM Tech3), who impressed to head a tightly packed group of riders where thousandths made the difference.

Joel Kelso (LEVELUP-MTA), Ryusei Yamanaka (FRINSA – MT Helmets – MSI) and his team-mate Angel Piqueras were next up, ahead of Scott Ogden (CIP Green Power), Dennis Foggia (CFMOTO Gaviota Aspar Team) and Buriram podium finisher Adrian Fernandez (Leopard Racing).

Joel Kelso

“We knew FP1 would be tricky, so we didn’t want to take too many risks. In FP2, I felt comfortable on the bike, we worked on several aspects, and in the end, we achieved a good result. Tomorrow, we’ll continue on this path to build a strong weekend.”

One notable name not heading straight through to Q1 is David Muñoz (Liqui Moly Dynavolt Intact GP) as he ended Practice in P15 – and after topping FP1. But the #64 was involved in an incident with Foggia in the afternoon which hampered his session. No further action will be taken there. Muñoz already has a pitlane start here for causing a crash with Luca Lunetta (SIC58 Squadra Corse) in Thailand though, so qualifying won’t be his key focus.

Lunetta too is another surprise who heads for Q1, as does Buriram polesitter Matteo Bertelle (LEVEL UP – MTA) after a crash in the afternoon in Argentina. The incident brought out the Red Flag briefly, but rider ok.

Moto3 Practice Times

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