With no time to rest for the MotoGP riders, the World Championship moved on from Austin to Argentina on Friday. The Termas de Rio Hondo track presented a dirty surface for the riders in the first practice session, but in the second it provided considerably more grip.
Fifteen minutes after the start of the afternoon session, a light drizzle led to all riders returning to their garages. This was only a temporary condition, as the asphalt did not become wet and the action was able to resume shortly thereafter.
Aleix Espargaró was quickest in both sessions on Friday, lowering the track record from last year. Behind him, Andrea Iannone and Marc Márquez were also amongst the fastest –a mix of Suzuki, Ducati and Honda riders in the top three.
Teammate Eugene Laverty set a time just 3 tenths of a second slower, and did an excellent job finding a good setup for a new circuit. He placed eighteenth on his first day at the Termas de Río Hondo track.
18th Eugene Laverty 1.40.846 (35 laps):
“Today was all-new for me, as I was able to ride at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit for the first time. I really like the layout, the only downside is that the surface is a bit dirty and there are still a few sessions needed in order to lay down some rubber. Today I mainly focused on learning the circuit, but our main problem today was that the bike was sliding around too much. That meant that the traction control kicked in too much and kept us from pushing harder. In any case, I’m convinced that tomorrow we can solve the problem. Overall, I’m pretty pleased with how things went at a new circuit; we have learned many things and our times were not very far from the top riders, considering how long this track is. Tomorrow we will try to get the bike turning in more.”
Source: Aspar Media