Factory Ducati’s Andrea Dovizioso snatched top spot in the opening MotoGP free practice session in Argentina this afternoon, edging out former champion Marc Marquez by less than a tenth of a second while Yonny Hernandez stuck the satellite Aspar Ducati in third place, three-tenths slower than his works stablemate.
Dovizioso set a 1’43.648 on his last lap as the unused track started to clean up with a ten minutes left of the session to run after dropping into the 1’44s on his 11th lap. The Italian hopped into third with a 1’44.194 with two minutes left and then demoted Marquez to second.
The Repsol Honda man didn’t have much in the way of consistency and his 1’43.778 was a lap out of nowhere while Hernandez was very much in the same vein, going from a 1’45.296 to a 1’44.027 on his last with a little help from Dovizioso. Ecstar Suzuki’s Maverick Vinales was at the sharp end all session, leading after 15 minuutes while using the upshift-only seamless gearbox.
Vinales was around the low 1’45s mark until he came out for his final run, dropping to a 1’44.624 and then to a 1’44.122 before securing fourth place with a 1’44.113. Team-mate Aleix Espargaro was also in the hunt, securing fifth with his final screen-biter of 1’44.181.Valentino Rossi was also another one-lap wonder, sticking in a 1’44.181 on his last to bag sixth place after being outside the top ten. He demoted Dani Pedrosa to seventh place, one ahead of Jack Miller on the MarcVDS Honda. Miller was loving the dirty surface, spinning and sliding his RC213V and topped the session with 20 minutes to go, ending on a 1’44.244.
Britain’s Bradley Smith worked his way up slowly but surely, getting as high as fifth before sliding back down to ninth, one ahead of compatriot Scott Redding on the Ducati. Hector Barbera occupies 11th place with reigning champion Jorge Lorenzo in 12th.
Eugene Laverty hopped up to 14th place with his last lap but it was disaster for Cal Crutchlow who only did six full laps and finished dead last, 2.4s off the pace.
