The 2022 Argentine Grand Prix will remain in the history of MotoGP, but it will not do so due to the delay in the cargo of materials or the weekend format reduced to just two days. He will do so because in Termas de Rio Hono the first victory in the premier class of Aprilia arrived, well deserved, which is also the first of an amazing Aleix Espargaro.
A brand that had stocked up on triumphs in the lower classes, but which had always missed the shot in the more important one. And what a shock, because at the same time as the success came the leadership in the world rankings for the Granollers rider, proving that this RS-GP is already a versatile bike and capable of being competitive on various types of circuit.
After yesterday’s beautiful pole position, 22 years after the last of the Noale 500cc manufacturer, and with the pace that Aleix had shown in practice, many gave him as a great favorite. However, Jorge Martin made him sweat the proverbial seven shirts to take the top step of the podium.
At the start it was in fact the Ducati Pramac rider who took command of operations, with Espargaro who, however, always remained in the tail of his Desmosedici GP, giving life to a tandem escape. With eight laps to go, Aleix then began general practice, with a couple of bouts at turn 5 when his RS-GP went long in braking.
With five laps to go, however, Espargaro found the right reference in braking and closed the corner in front of “Martinator”. At that point he checked up to the penultimate lap, when he managed to give a snatch that allowed him to live the last lap with serenity to go and write a page in motorcycling history.
Martin however returns home with new certainties after the two zeroes of the first two races. Today he ran as a protagonist and took 20 points which could be heavy in the continuation of the season.
It was a very positive day also for Suzuki, which placed the two GSX-RRs in third and fourth position. Alex Rins completed the podium, followed by teammate Joan Mir. Probably the pace of the two drivers could have allowed something more, but a not too brilliant start complicated their race.
Speech that can also apply to Pecco Bagnaia, who in his small way has finally managed to make a positive change to his season with fifth place. The pace shown today by the Ducati rider was really interesting and, if he hadn’t started 13th, he probably could have battled for the podium, since he also lost a lot of time in the battle with Luca Marini.
Brad Binder’s race was also good, with sixth place keeping his KTM in second place in the World Championship, albeit seven points behind Espargaro. Too bad for Maverick Vinales’ other Aprilia, which finally raced as a protagonist, but saw the top 5 blow right in the last two laps, having to settle for seventh place. However, the step forward on the RS-GP was evident.
On the other hand, the Yamaha Sunday was very difficult: Fabio Quartararo fell in the standings in the early stages of the race, even finding himself 13th at a certain point, even if he then put a patch on it by climbing up to eighth place. On the other hand, Franco Morbidelli and Andrea Dovizioso were very unlucky, respectively stopped by a punctured tire and by the front lowering device blocked after the start.
It went even worse for Honda: Pol Espargaro crashed when he was battling for podium positions, so in the end the best of the RC213Vs was that of Takaaki Nakagami, 12th at the finish. In front of him is a trio of Italians made up of Marco Bezzecchi, in the first top 10 in MotoGP, Enea Bastianini and Marini.
The Mooney VR46 Racing Team rookie did a great job of recovering from 17th place on the grid. Reverse speech for his box mate, who fell 11th with the passing of laps after starting from the front row. Without a drittone at turn 5 he could have done a little more “Beast”, who is still third in the World Championship, at -9. His team mate Fabio Di Giannantonio retired instead, who fell in the final. On the other hand, Jack Miller was bad, only 14th with his Ducati.
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