MotoGP at Termas de Río Hondo: Alex Márquez recovered from the fire on his bike and took pole position

The Spanish Alex Marquez (Ducati) this Saturday signed the pole position for the Grand Prix of the Argentine Republic motorcycling, which will be held this Sunday at the international circuit of Rio Hondo hot springsfor the second round of the season.

With a time of 1:43.881the younger brother of Marc Márquez, a six-time MotoGP champion absent from the country this year, took his first pole in his 54 races in the top category.

The Catalan, 26 years old, recovered from a crash in Q1 produced by the humidity of the Santiago track and he tackled the rest of the session with just one bike, with no margin for error, which didn’t stop him from completing an excellent day in the second GP that faced the Ducati from its home base .

The Italian brand reached the podium in the ranking with Marco Bezzecchi and the reigning world champion, Francis Bagnaiain second and third place.

The top ten places were completed by Italian Franco Morbidelli (Yamaha), Spaniard Maverick Viñales (Aprilia), Frenchman Johan Zarco (Ducati), Italian Luca Marini (Ducati), Spaniard Jorge Martin (Ducati) and Aleix Espargaró ( Aprilia).) and the French Fabio Quartararo (Yamaha).

“Starting from pole position is something very positive but there are still two races to go. I crashed with the first bike, we only had one to go up and luckily the team reacted very well”, highlighted the youngest of the Márquezwhich will also start from the front row in the Sprint Race which will take place this afternoon at 15:00 with a broadcast on ESPN and Star+.

This new form of competition has been introduced this season and is about a short 12-lap race with a sum of points for the first nine drivers (12 for the winner, 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 for the remaining drivers).

The eighth edition of the Grand Prix of the Argentine Republic takes place this weekend in Termas de Río Hondo with famous victims, including that of Marc Marquezsix-time MotoGP champion and three-time winner in the country.

The 2023 calendar was launched last weekend with a rough Portuguese Grand Prix, which consecrated the defending champion Bagnaia and left four riders of the top series without the possibility of attending the Santiago appointment.

Marc Márquez (Honda), winner at Termas in 2014, 2016 and 2019, he caused an early race crash in which he fractured his right thumb and needed surgery. Even the Portuguese Miguel Olivieira, the main victim of his bad manoeuvre, was unable to travel to Argentina due to the injuries sustained after the fall of his Aprilia motorbike.

His compatriot also did not arrive in the country Pol Espargaro (GasGas) after his serious crash in free practice last weekend in Portimao neither the Italian enea bastianini (Ducati), who crashed on Saturday in the Sprint Race of Portugal.

The GP of Argentina will be held on Sunday from 14 to 25 laps on a track of 4.81 kilometres.