Vinales dominates Practice 1 in Argentina as Quartararo misses the top ten

Maverick Vinales led a dominant Aprilia 1-2 during the first Practice for the Argentine MotoGP, while Fabio Quartararo had a nightmare session.

Robert Jones

31 Mar 2023

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia MotoGP Argentina MotoGP

Following a difficult MotoGP season-opener in Portimao, Franco Morbidelli looked very comfortable on what was a very ‘green’ track.

The Yamaha rider was over six tenths clear of Aleix Espargaro after the opening flurry of laps, before Jorge Martin close to within a tenth.

After seeing the factory Aprilia duo of Espargaro and Maverick Vinales move to the top of the leaderboard, Morbidelli looked set to regain top spot before a mistake in the final sector.

Another rider that struggled throughout the opening round was Takaaki Nakagami who followed in Morbidelli’s footsteps by showing early potential aboard his LCR Honda.

The Japanese rider jumped to the top of the timingsheets, with Vinales and Espargaro remaining inside the top three.

Martin and Nakagami then exchanged top spot as high 1m 40s lap times were being set during the opening 15 minutes.

Showing impressive pace in what is just his second official weekend of MotoGP action, Augusto Fernandez went up to ninth place before having his lap time deleted due to exceeding track limits at the final corner.

One rider who had no such issue with track limits was Marco Bezzecchi, as the podium finisher in Portimao went up to third, splitting Martin and world champion Francesco Bagnaia.

After seeing his teammate narrowly miss out on top spot, Vinales was next to try his luck as he set a time of 1:40.559s.

Vinales then improved again, however, so did Morbidelli and Espargaro as both riders went quicker than the ex-Yamaha rider.

Matching his previous best lap, Morbidelli then had a lap deleted as Vinales found time in sector four to go fastest once again.

Vinales then put the hammer down as he found nearly two tenths, while Alex Rins became the first faller of the day after losing the front-end of his RC213V at turn one.

With his teammate sitting in second, although Morbidelli was the first rider to put new tyres on, Fabio Quartararo was struggling as he remained a second down on Vinales with ten minutes remaining.

With unpredictable weather in the air and a risk to affect Practice 2, riders began a mini time attack during the final few minutes.

Out on-track alone to kick things off, Bezzecchi set the first sub 1m 40s lap after fitting a new medium rear.

A stunning pair of laps from Vinales then saw him separate himself from the pack, so much so that no rider got within two tenths of his effort come the checkered flag.

One of those who was a long way behind was Quartararo, as the Yamaha rider missed out on the top ten.

Espargaro made it a Aprilia 1-2 with his final effort, while Bagnaia managed to remain in the top ten by the smallest of margins.