The Ducati Lenovo Team has topped the timesheets in the opening day of action for the Argentine Grand Prix courtesy of Marc Márquez, who was the fastest rider in both of today’s sessions held at the ‘Autódromo Internacional de Termas de Río Hondo’. Francesco Bagnaia finished Practice in tenth place.
Márquez showed excellent speed throughout the day as he remained in the top positions and ultimately set a 1’37.295 at the end of the afternoon session, which set the new outright lap record of the Argentine track. Bagnaia got up to speed in the afternoon but eventually crashed out of turn two with four minutes left, albeit still earning the direct seed to tomorrow’s Q2.
The riders of the Ducati Lenovo Team will be back in action tomorrow morning at 10:10 local time (GMT -3) for Free Practice 2, which will be followed by Q2 (11:15) and by the second sprint race of the season (12 laps), which gets underway at 15:00.
Marc Márquez (#93 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 1st
“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.”
Francesco Bagnaia (#63 Ducati Lenovo Team) – 10th
“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.”
