Mir finds a second in Argentina
Big improvements for Joan Mir saw the #36 narrowly miss out on the top ten in Argentina, Saturday set to be a day of comebacks for the double World Champion.
It was a lone Joan Mir left to face the changeable conditions of the two Friday practice sessions inside the Repsol Honda Team garage as Marc Marquez continued his recovery at home in Spain. Morning showers threatened a wet start to the day for the MotoGP field at the 4.8-kilometer long Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, but the track dried quickly. Rain would threaten most of the day, but it would ultimately remain dry.
Mir avoided fitting a soft rear slick and pushing for a fast lap in the morning session as he worked on improving the feeling of his Honda RC213V in Argentina. Down the timesheets, Mir and the Repsol Honda Team worked solidly throughout the lunch break to find solutions to the situation for the crucial afternoon session. Improving to a best time of 1’39.257, almost 1.5 seconds faster than his FP1 time, Mir ended the day in 13th. 0.120s shy of a spot in the combined top ten, the #36 was left disappointed with the day and is already plotting his comeback on Saturday.
Saturday will see the second MotoGP Sprint race take place; 12 laps of all-out action scheduled to start at 15:00 Local Time.
Joan Mir
“It was a pretty tough day. We started with a base setting which was not the best for this track, and we spent a lot of time working on it to improve. There is clearly a lot of potential there with the bike, Taka and Rins were strong, but I am just missing the final few tenths. We made a lot of progress and finally our pace at the end, especially with used tyres, was quite close to the top five. We just need more time now to work on the fine details, it’s still just our second race so this is part of the process. Even like this we were able to make some big improvements today and we aim to continue it tomorrow.”
Friday Practice - Argentina Grand Prix
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Espargaro Aleix | 41 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 1'38.518 |
| 2 | Vinales Maverick | 12 | SPA | Aprilia Racing | Aprilia | 0.162 |
| 3 | Bezzecchi Marco | 72 | ITA | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.249 |
| 4 | Marini Luca | 10 | ITA | Mooney VR46 Racing Team | Ducati | 0.315 |
| 5 | Zarco Johann | 5 | FRA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 0.391 |
| 6 | Bagnaia Francesco | 1 | ITA | Ducati Lenovo Team | Ducati | 0.426 |
| 7 | Martin Jorge | 89 | SPA | Pramac Racing | Ducati | 0.488 |
| 8 | Nakagami Takaaki | 30 | JPN | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.553 |
| 9 | Morbidelli Franco | 21 | ITA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.562 |
| 10 | Rins Alex | 42 | SPA | LCR Honda | Honda | 0.599 |
| 11 | Marquez Alex | 73 | SPA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.666 |
| 12 | Binder Brad | 33 | RSA | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.684 |
| 13 | Mir Joan | 36 | SPA | Repsol Honda Team | Honda | 0.719 |
| 14 | Quartararo Fabio | 20 | FRA | Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP | Yamaha | 0.746 |
| 15 | Di Giannantonio Fabio | 49 | ITA | Team Gresini Racing MotoGP | Ducati | 0.770 |
| 16 | Miller Jack | 43 | AUS | Red Bull KTM Factory Racing | KTM | 0.858 |
| 17 | Fernandez Augusto | 37 | SPA | Tech3 GASGAS Factory Racing | KTM | 1.043 |
| 18 | Fernandez Raul | 25 | SPA | RNF MotoGP Team | Aprilia | 1.057 |
Location Information
The Termas de Río Hondo Circuit is located 6km from the city which gives the venue its name, in the Province of Santiago del Estero. It was built in a 150 hectare area and officially inaugurated on May 11, 2008, during the visit of Argentina´s Touring Car Racing championship. In… read more.
| Length | 4.806 kilometres / 2.986 miles |
| Width | 16 metres |
| Left corners | 5 |
| Right corners | 9 |
| Longest straight | 1.076 kilometres / 0.669 miles |
| Constructed | 2008 |
| Modified | 2013 |
| Resurfacing | Partly resurfaced before 2018 GP |
Autódromo Provincial Termas de Río Hondo, Termas de Río Hondo, Santiago del Estero Province, Argentina - View in Google Maps
Records
| Pole Position | 1m 37.683s (177.1km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2014) |
| Race Lap | 1m 39.019s (174.7 km/h) Valentino Rossi (Yamaha, 2015) |
| Race Time | 34m13.628s (168.4 km/h) Marc Marquez (Honda, 2016) *shortened race |
| 2022 Race Winner | Aleix Espargaro (Aprilia) |
