MotoMatters.com | Kropotkin Thinks

When the race build-up started with a talented pair dancing the tango at the front of the grid, we should’ve known it’ll serve as a premonition for how the 25 laps of the premier class battle would unfold. Although the outcome was a predictable prosecco shower for Marc Marquez, celebrating his 90^th grand prix success, he got more of a challenge from Alex Marquez this time around. The Gresini rider took advantage of a few rare mistakes from his sibling to lead much of the race, before admitting defeat once more. The slight change to the podium was on its third step, where the familiar face of Pecco Bagnaia was replaced by a jubilant Franco Morbidelli, who returned to the podium for the first time since 2021. 

To no one’s surprise, Marc Marquez made an excellent launch off the line, staying ahead of Alex into turn 1, while Bagnaia once again demoted front-row starter Johann Zarco for 3^rd. However, the Honda man managed to hold onto 4^th this time around and even had a brief go at the Italian on the opening lap. Fabio Di Giannantonio was in the top 5 early on but was soon challenged by Morbidelli and a fast-starting Brad Binder, with Pedro Acosta, Joan Mir and Ai Ogura completing the top 10 on the opening lap. Meanwhile, contact between Marco Bezzecchi and Fabio Quartararo at the first corner saw the Italian slide through the gravel and left the Frenchman at the very back of the field (although he did recover to score on point in the end). 

The Marquez duo were immediately the quickest men on track, so they hardly needed the help, but they still got a helping hand from Zarco who kept harassing Bagnaia over the first couple of laps. Left to sort things between themselves, a rare mistake from Marc Marquez running wide at the first corner opened the door for Alex to make a move for the lead at the start of lap 4. The exchange didn’t make much difference to the seven-tenth gap over their rivals, as Bagnaia seemed to struggle to run the same pace and soon passed the baton to pal Morbidelli, who picked up the chase after a handful of laps. Bagnaia had a bit of a queue forming behind him as well, with Zarco, Binder, Di Giannantonio, Ogura, Mir and Acosta tagging along for the ride. Alex Rins led the next group two seconds down the road.

Back at the front, Alex Marquez was keeping his brother under control, but a threat was starting to materialise from behind, where Morbidelli was picking up the pace in a last-ditch attempt to bridge the gap to the duo. Bagnaia didn’t seem to have the pace to match, at the 10-lap mark at least, when the Italian was stuck one second behind the podium positions but at least managed to shake off most of the pursuit, with the exception of Zarco. A second and a half down the road, Binder led the fight for 6^th place, with Di Giannantonio and Ogura as his biggest challengers, but Mir and Acosta were not fully out of contention either. That gradually changed over the next few laps, as the Spaniards squabbled for 9^th and were dropping tenths to the men ahead, but once Acosta made the decisive move at the halfway point of proceedings, he picked up the pace and left Mir to worry about teammate Luca Marini’s late race pace.

Despite Morbidelli’s best efforts, the hot pace set by Alex Marquez at the front allowed the leaders to keep the Italian at arm’s length and they escaped one second ahead by lap 12. Unlike two weeks ago, Marc Marquez seemed to be on the limit while chasing down his brother, getting a few warnings along the way, although it didn’t really lose him any time. The siblings were inseparable as the race entered its final 10 laps, but the next move didn’t come until eight laps remaining, when Marc Marquez had a go at turn five but went in hot and allowed Alex to sweep back in. While the poleman regrouped for another assault, the threat from behind was limited, with Morbidelli dropping three seconds back and managing a one second gap to Bagnaia, who was still busy holding off Zarco. Meanwhile, Di Giannantonio finally took 6^th from Binder with nine laps to go and quickly distanced the KTM man, attempting a late chase of Zarco. Seventh place seemed pretty secure for Binder, although Ogura seemed to be closing in after escaping unscathed from the battle with the other factory KTM of Acosta. 

Tension stayed high at the front of the race, as a ragged Marc Marquez was sniffing around the leader until eventually making a move stick into turn five, reclaiming the lead with five laps to go. This time around Alex Marquez had no immediate response and seemed to throw in the towel along with nine tenths of a second over the next lap. Once the Marquezes settled the score, all eyes moved to the shrinking gap between Morbidelli and Bagnaia – the two separated by only half a second as they started the final lap. Regardless, Morbidelli eventually secured a long-awaited return to the podium as Bagnaia waved the white flag. Di Giannantonio was more successful in applying pressure in the battle for 5^th and demoted Zarco at the final corner. Binder held off Ogura for 7^th, while Acosta resisted a late charge from Mir and Marini to hold onto 9^th. 

Marquez’s perfect start to the season sees him gain a 16-point advantage over Alex in the world championship standings, with Bagnaia losing more ground to his teammate, now 31 points behind. Morbidelli closes in to 37 points, with Ogura holding onto the top five – 49 points off the lead. 

Results:

The intermediate class seemed to have unwisely followed the example of their premier class colleagues in Argentina and served us an exquisite but uneventful runaway victory. The proud owner was Jake Dixon, whose perfect launch off the line allowed him to take control of proceedings straight away and the Brit was untouchable for the remaining 21 laps. Manu Gonzalez limited the damage as best he could to secure a very comfortable second place, with the battle for 3^rd taking place over six second down the road. The final trophy on offer had a few more takers, Celestino Vietti eventually claiming it with a more sensible advantage over his challengers. 

While Dixon was robbing poleman Gonzalez into turn 1, Vietti made some early moves to quickly join the top 5 from 9^th on the grid, alongside Filip Salac. Just as impressive was Aron Canet, who launched from 10^th position but was already attacking Vietti for 5^th by turn 7. Diogo Moreira, Darryn Binder, Alonso Lopez and Dani Holgado completed the early top 10, while second row-starter Alex Escrig struggled to keep up with the early pace and dropped to 14^th. 

While Dixon continued to lead the way, all eyes were on teammate Salac, who briefly joined him at the front by the end of the second lap, relegating both Gonzalez and Ramirez. The championship leader was quick to recover second position but that was enough of an interruption to allow Dixon to run away at the front and Gonzlez struggled to keep up with his rival’s red-hot pace. Gaps seemed to be growing behind Gonzalez as well, with Salac dropping six tenths back on lap five and a mistake allowed Ramirez to take over the pursuit soon after – but the Spaniard found himself nearly two seconds behind the leading duo in the blink of an eye. Canet didn’t hesitate to further demote Salac over the next lap, with Vietti and Binder keen to have a go as well. Lopez led the next group a second and a half down the road, in the company of Albert Arenas, Holgado and Tony Arbolino. Izan Guevara briefly impressed as he went from 23^rd on the grid into the top 10 after a handful of laps, but didn’t last there for long before starting to lose ground once again. Another notable absence from the top 10 was that of Moreira, who retired after the first few laps.

Meanwhile, a lightning-quick Dixon extended his advantage over Gonzalez to a whole second by lap 8, all the while Canet joined the podium positions with an overtake on Ramirez at turn five. Canet’s progress seemed to stop there, as he had over three seconds to find to challenge for second at the halfway point of proceedings, but he got some brief respite from his rivals as well, when an unfortunate tangle at turn five between Ramirez and Salac ended with the Czech rider in the gravel and the Spaniard dropping to 6^th. However, the incident opened the red carpet for Vietti, who enjoyed the clear air and swiftly caught up with Canet by lap 13. The Italian made light work of the Spaniard at turn five but couldn’t quite drop him and Canet was able to stay in podium contention. One second down the road, Ramirez was now fending off Binder, while Arbolino got ahead of Lopez and Holgado in the fight for 7^th, and Escrig recovering to rejoin the top 10.

Back at the front, Dixon continued to maintain a safe two-second gap to Gonzalez, who in turn had nearly six seconds in hand over the fight for 3^rd. All eyes were on that battle, where Canet took advantage of a mistake from Vietti to reclaim 3^rd with seven laps to go but Vietti was able to retaliate next time around turn 7. Ramirez was not fully out of contention either, as he hinted at a late recovery – his gap halved from one second to half a second while the duo ahead were squabbling. While there was potential for a three-way battle in the final couple of laps, Vietti went unchallenged until the chequered flag and crossed the finish line 6.5 seconds behind Gonzalez and 10 seconds behind runaway victor Dixon. Canet missed out on the podium by four tenths of a second, with Ramirez completing the top five and Binder in a lonely 6^th. A late charge from Escrig helped him recover up to 7^th place, after dropping to the bottom of the point-scoring positions early on, fending off Lopez in 8^th. Holgado continues to impress as top rookie in 9^th, while Arenas completed the top 10 and Arbolino eventually faded to 11^th. 

Gonzalez’s second place was enough to keep him at the top of the championship standings by 11 points ahead of Dixon, with Canet a further point back. Ramirez and Senna Agius complete the top 5, 23 and 26 points back, while Vietti climbs significantly up to 6^th, 29 points behind the leader. 

Results: 

Argentina delivered a typical Moto3 race with action from start to finish and the main protagonists were the two quickest men on the front row alongside the championship leader. Although poleman Matteo Bertelle led a good chunk of the race, he eventually missed out on the trophies in a frantic final lap, which saw Angel Piqueras come out as the most determined of the lot and take victory. An opportunistic Adrian Fernandez climbed into second place at the last corner, while Jose Antonio Rueda stays in control of the championship standings with third place. 

A decent start from the poleman got completely eclipsed by a rapid Ryusei Yamanaka, who briefly flew into the lead at turn 1, before David Almansa relegated him at turn 5. Alvaro Carpe joined Rueda and Piqueras in the early top five, with Bertelle immediately relegated to 6^th at the start. The next rider to take a shift at the front was rookie Carpe, who took advantage of a mistake from Almansa at turn 1 to have a go at leading a Moto3 race for the first time – although Almansa swiftly fixed his mistake to return to the front by the end of lap 2. The exchanges at the front did not slow down the leaders in the slightest, as a group of 11 riders seemed to stretch a bit of an advantage – including Almansa, Carpe, Rueda, Riccardo Rossi, Taiyo Furusato, Bertelle, Piqueras, Valentin Perrone, Fernandez, Stefano Nepa and Yamanaka, the latter losing some ground after the excellent start. Joel Esteban and Scott Ogden were leading the pursuit around seven tenths of a second back by lap 4, while Joel Kelso had dropped out of the top 10 all the way down to 25^th after serving his double long lap penalties.  

After a brief interruption from Piqueras on lap 4, Almansa continued to lead the way but there were plenty of moves behind the duo, which helped the sizeable pursuit bridge the gap – bringing almost all of the field back together by lap seven. David Muñoz was the only one to miss out, getting punished by his pitlane start and he was circulating around 14 seconds behind the field at that stage. 

By lap 8, Almansa was in very familiar company, as teammate Fernandez caught up with him at the front and briefly challenged him for the lead one lap later. While the Leopard riders traded places, poleman Bertelle decided it was time to rejoin the top 3 and Rueda was a consistent presence in the top 5. However, the list of contenders continued to be lengthy, with 17 riders covered by only two and a half seconds at the halfway point of proceedings. 

Case in point, Furusato was next in line to lead on lap 11 and Rueda had a go on lap 13, but Bertelle decided it was time to return to prime position for the final handful of laps and took control of the field, setting a hot pace at the front. So hot that the leading group was finally starting to reduce, with Bertelle, Rueda, Furusato, Carpe, Fernandez, Piqueras, Almansa and Lunetta extending a one second gap to the next group led by Kelso, who had impressively recovered to 8^th position. 

Although the overtakes behind him kept us well entertained, Bertelle was not interested in taking part and tried to extend a bit of a gap at the front, which got as high as half a second with two laps remaining. Furusato tried to keep the gap under control but the men behind him decided he wasn’t doing a good enough job at that and Piqueras took over as main challenger. The Spaniard immediately closed in on the leader, bringing Rueda with him, and demoted Bertelle at turn 7 on the final lap. Rueda further relegated the poleman at turn 9 and started squabbling with Piqueras until the finish line. Rueda was leading at the penultimate corner, but Piqueras took the final opportunity on offer to get ahead and crossed the finish line first. Although the victory was briefly under doubt as the Spaniard touched the green on the final lap, it seemed that the lost position was punishment enough and he soon climbed onto the top step of the podium. Fernandez took advantage of the late shenanigans between his compatriots and snuck into second place ahead of Rueda.  

Despite leading the way for a considerable amount of time, Bertelle got demoted to 5^th place on the final lap but then inherited 4^th after Furusato had to drop a position for exceeding track limits on the final lap. Almansa faded to 6^th in the closing stages, but it was still a career best for the Spaniard, ahead of Lunetta in 7^th. Next was a solid recovery to 8^th from Kelso – helped by an unfortunate last-lap crash for Alvaro Carpe, with Yamanaka and Nepa completing the top 10. 

Rueda’s podium placement helps him stay in control of the championship standings by 5 points ahead of Fernandez, with Piqueras climbing significantly into 3^rd, 12 points behind the leader. Bertelle and Carpe complete the top 5, 17 and 21 points back respectively. 

Results:

Although teams kept one eye on the sky after a sprinkling of rain threatened Moto3 qualifying beforehand, the weather woes never materialised, and Marc Marquez remained the biggest threat on track. The poleman expertly managed the gap to his sole chaser – familiarly Alex Marquez, in another exquisite Saturday for the Marquez household. Also in a déjà vu from the opening round, an unimpressed Pecco Bagnaia joined them on the sprint podium in front of a much more animated Argentine crowd. 

Marc and Alex Marquez maintained the status quo from the start, while Bagnaia immediately attacked a sluggish Johann Zarco to depose him of third position off the line. The Frenchman dropped more places to a fast-starting Fabio Quartararo and also to Pedro Acosta, the duo keen to harass Bagnaia early on. Fabio Di Giannantonio, Franco Morbidelli, Marco Bezzecchi and Joan Mir completed the early top 10, after Brad Binder crashed out of 9^th position on the opening lap, unhelpfully nudged by Morbidelli’s attack. 

By lap two, the Marquezes were unperturbed at the front, exchanging fastest laps and stretching just enough of a gap to Bagnaia to avoid an attack. The Italian found himself almost a second behind the duo only one lap later and had a big group hot on his tail. After the initial surge, Quartararo started to lose some ground to both Acosta and Zarco, but neither managed to show a wheel to Bagnaia over the next few laps and the KTM man allowed the Ducati rider a second of breathing room after only a handful of laps. Making matters worse, Zarco was recovering well from his poor start and soon attacked the Spaniard for 4^th, Di Giannantonio also taking advantage soon after to claim 5^th. Acosta dropped to 6^th but still had Bezzecchi, Morbidelli, Quartararo and Mir in tow. 

Back at the front, Marc Marquez still had his brother glued to his rear wheel at the halfway point of proceedings – the gap rarely over two tenths of a second. Until lap eight that is, when the poleman found something extra to add a couple more tenths to the tally, and although the Gresini rider was matching his red patches on the timing screens, the gap continued to grow little by little – up to seven tenths with three laps to go. Meanwhile, Bagnaia had dropped over two seconds back and although he was posting his best laps, the gap wasn’t budging. It did help him keep Zarco at arm’s length by over a second – the Frenchman still posting pretty impressive lap times and making sure Di Giannantonio didn’t get a change to catch up. 

Faultless until the end, Marc Marquez took the chequered flag nearly a second ahead of Alex, with Bagnaia completing a familiar top 3 three seconds later. Although missing out on the podium by one second, Zarco secured a fantastic fourth place for Honda, with Di Giannantonio a solid 5^th. Bezzecchi and Morbidelli did not make much noise in the later stages on their way to 6^th and 7^th, while Mir and Acosta did provide some late entertainment in the battle for 8^th – won by the Honda man in the closing stages. Quartararo completed the top 10 for Yamaha but missing out on points by one second. 

Marquez’s repeated triumph extends his advantage in the world championship to 11 points over Alex Marquez, with Bagnaia 19 points behind in 3^rd. Morbidelli and Ai Ogura stay in the top 5, with Zarco progressing into 6^th, 34 points behind the leader. 

Results:

The final qualifying session in Argentina followed a very familiar pattern for the day, although Manu Gonzalez had to do an extra bit of work to secure back to back pole positions. Despite several challenges from Jake Dixon, the Spaniard was able to retaliate in the final couple of minutes of Q2 and post the first and only 1:40 lap time. That was enough to secure him pole, with Dixon settling for second two tenths back but with a good opportunity to challenge the championship leader in tomorrow’s race. The final place on the front row was a hotly disputed affair, with Alex Escrig making a surprisingly solid bid until Marcos Ramirez put in a late charge to demote his compatriot. 

Escrig still secured a fantastic 4^th place after comfortably escaping Q1, and will open the second row of the grid ahead of Diogo Moreira – who left it late in both Q1 and Q2 to make his move – and fellow Q1 graduate Filip Salac in 6^th. Alonso Lopez shares third row with Darryn Binder and Q1 leader Celestino Vietti, who was a looming threat for pole early on but eventually dropped to 9^th. 

Aron Canet had a pretty anonymous qualifying session, spending most of the session towards the bottom of the hierarchy and only saving the day with a 10^th place on his final flying lap. The Spaniard will be joined by Zonta Van Den Goorbergh and Tony Arbolino on the fourth row, with Mario Aji leading the way on row five, ahead of rookie Dani Holgado and Barry Baltus. 

Joe Roberts was a modest 16^th and shares sixth row with Adrian Huertas and Albert Arenas, while a disgruntled Deniz Öncü was first under the line in Q1 and had to make do with 19^th on the grid. David Alonso also had real hopes of making an escape from Q1 but eventually dropped to 20^th position.

Results:

Some heavy drizzle threw a spanner in the works for Moto3 qualifying but nothing could derail Matteo Bertelle’s quest for pole. Not even Q1 – which he aced from the first outing and then relaxed in his garage – and definitely none of his rivals, who were faced with a half-second gap at times. Despite the tricky conditions, the Italian posted some very convincing lap times in both sessions and confidently secured back to back pole positions. Angel Piqueras gave it a good go at challenging the leader but only managed to reduce the deficit to two tenths of a second and settled for second, while Ryusei Yamanaka stole the final spot on the front row on his final flying lap. The Japanese rider returns to the first row for the first time since 2022, at the detriment of David Almansa, who got pushed down to 4^th.

The Spaniard will be joined on the second row by compatriot Alvaro Carpe, the rookie putting in another fine performance to claim 5^th place, ahead of teammate and championship leader Jose Antonio Rueda. Riccardo Rossi faded to 7^th place after crashing out in the final couple of minutes of Q2 and taking an unlucky Scott Ogden with him. Joel Kelso tried to mitigate for his double long lap penalty in tomorrow’s race with a solid qualifying performance and managed to climb into a modest 8^th, just ahead of home hero Valentin Perrone who secured a fairly impressive 9^th. 

Joel Esteban did a great job on replacement duty, qualifying 10^th, ahead of Dennis Foggia and Adrian Fernandez, while fellow replacement rider Adrian Cruces also impressed by escaping Q1 and climbing into 13^th grid position. Taiyo Furusato snuck out of Q1 at the last second and took 14^th place on the grid, in between Cruces and Stefano Nepa on the fifth row. Ogden had to make do with 16^th position after the incident and will be joined by Nicola Carraro and Q1 graduate Marcos Uriarte on row six. 

Ruche Moodley missed out on Q2 by one thousandth of a second, sharing row seven with Cormac Buchanan and David Muñoz - who had no real horse in this race, given his pitlane start penalty, but still found a way to make waves after a close exchange with Cruces in the closing stages of Q1. Luca Lunetta will inherit his spot on the grid but it will be little consolation for the unlucky Italian, who managed to lose a piece of his seat unit on his first exit in Q1 and by the time he visited pitlane to resolve the issue, the drizzle had intensified and he had to admit defeat after a couple of hairy moments on track. 

Results:               

Marc Marquez cruising to back-to-back pole positions will come as no surprise to anyone who has tuned in at any point this weekend (or season) – the championship leader attacking the all-time lap record from his very first lap, eventually dipping into the 1:36s to stretch his advantage to a quarter of a second. Alex Marquez frequently flashed red on the timing screens as well, but it was not enough to bridge that gap and he had to settle for second once more. The actual surprise was behind the Marquez clan, where a Honda joined the front row party – Johann Zarco setting a lap time worthy of third grid position early in the session and holding on until the chequered flag. 

Pecco Bagnaia made a steady start in Q2 but only managed to limit the damage from 8^th up to 4^th place, opening the second row of the grid right behind his teammate’s tail. Pedro Acosta continues to carry the flag for KTM with a 5^th place, while Fabio Di Giannantonio couldn’t quite replicate his achievements from practice, but still secured a solid 6^th grid position. 

Fabio Quartararo's plan to chase Bagnaia around didn't work out this time either, but ultimately it was Binder’s reference that helped him climb into 7^th on the grid, ahead of Q1 leader Franco Morbidelli. The Italian was the clear favourite in Q1 – despite only having one functional bike following his FP2 crash – but he could only climb as high as 8^th, ahead of compatriot Marco Bezzecchi, who looked like he might struggle to replicate his previous achievements in Argentina from the back of the third row. Joan Mir impressed in Q1 before Zarco stole his thunder in Q2, and the Spaniard settled for 10^th place, ahead of Brad Binder and Alex Rins.

Jack Miller was the unfortunate best-of-the-rest in Q1, missing out by seven hundredths of a second and stuck on fifth row. Fermin Aldeguer came out on top in the battle of the rookies, but only narrowly so and helped by a late crash for Ai Ogura at turn 2. The duo complete row five, with Luca Marini opening sixth row ahead of Miguel Oliveira and Raul Fernandez. Somkiat Chantra got relegated to 19^th place after visiting the same gravel trap as pal Ogura, but still outqualified the much more experienced duo of Maverick Viñales and Enea Bastianini. The nightmare start to their Tech 3 adventure continues, only replacement Lorenzo Savadori behind them on the grid. 

Results:          

A particularly grey Saturday morning set the scene for the final practice session for the premier class and it was the same names at the front of the timesheets, just in a slightly different order. Alex Marquez returned to the top of the charts, spending all session in prime position, while Marc Marquez steadily closed in to trail his brother by eight hundredths of a second while continuing to set a solid pace on worn rubber.

Johann Zarco continued to thrive at Termas and completed the top three, a tenth off the lead and with Fabio Di Giannantonio in close pursuit in 4^th position. Pedro Acosta completed the top 5 to add a KTM to the mix, getting ahead of rookie Fermin Aldeguer. After sneaking into Q2 by the skin of his teeth due to a crash, Pecco Bagnaia was on the right track on Saturday morning, up to 7^th and ending the session on a similar pace to his teammate, while having a good look at him on track. 

Marco Bezzecchi, Jack Miller and Fabio Quartararo completed the top 10 in FP2 – although the Australian will have to battle through Q1 to repeat that feat later on. Franco Morbidelli will be joining him there and although he seems to be one of the favourites to go through, the Italian’s day didn’t get off to the greatest start, with an early crash interrupting his session before he recovered to 12^th position. 

Results:

The intermediate class completed their final practice outing in rather grey but dry conditions and it was a familiar picture at the top of the timing screens, with Jake Dixon hogging the limelight throughout FP2 and showing off solid race pace. Barry Baltus managed to close in to within a tenth of  a second of the leader late on, while Aron Canet got right back up to speed after an eventful Friday and climbed into third place on his final flying lap – two tenths behind Dixon. 

After leading the way on Friday, Manuel Gonzalez settled for 4^th on Saturday morning, but continues to be another of the favourites for Sunday. Despite narrowly missing out on Q2, Deniz Öncü was quick in FP2 and joined the top five, ahead of Darryn Binder and Celestino Vietti – the South African the only rider of the trio who safely made it to Q2 on Friday. 

Alonso Lopez, Filip Salac and Senna Agius completed the top 10 of the session, less than half a second slower than the leader. Although Dani Holgado held onto a Q2 place on Friday, David Alonso led the rookie battle on Saturday – finishing three places ahead of the Spaniard in 16^th, despite an early off-track excursion. 

Results: