Fantastic third Argentine pole for Marquez, Pedrosa fourth
Marc Marquez clinched a fantastic pole position today, his third in a row in Argentina, while his Repsol Honda teammate Dani Pedrosa posted a very close fourth-fastest time to put him on the second row.
Marc had already set the pace in both FP3 and in FP4, during which he alone had managed to lap under the 1’40 barrier. That session was red-flagged twice after Scott Redding suffered a rear-tyre issue that is still under investigation by the Michelin technicians.
Two laps into the qualifying session, Marc set the fastest time of the day at 1’39.411. He suffered a small crash during his second attempt, and although he was uninjured, he was unable to lower his mark. Dani steadily improved his pace throughout the course of the day and missed a front-row spot by less than a tenth of a second, setting the fourth-best time of 1’40.011.
The race will start tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. local time
Marc Marquez
"I'm happy with how the bike is going and with the pace we have. Tomorrow it will be vital to choose our rear tyre well, because with the soft I feel very good but I do not know if we can use it. We will have to wait for the decision from Michelin. We know what my crashes today were due to; the first was down to changing the setup but the second was because we pushed too hard. That is what happens in the qualifying session. Tomorrow we'll give everything we have in the race".
Dani Pedrosa
"The grip level of the track has improved today. There was more traction than yesterday and although we have advanced in terms of pace, we will continue working to go faster and be more consistent tomorrow. With such an improvement in grip, we have to find a setup that best suits these conditions. Tomorrow we will start from fourth place and try to have a good race."
Qualyfing Results
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Team | Constructor | Time/Gap |
|---|
Rider standings
| Pos. | Rider | Num | Nation | Points | Team | Constructor |
|---|
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) |
