MotoGP: Argentina Preview – Clash of the Titans Part 2?

March 28, 2019

MotoGP returns this weekend and the destination is the beautifully sculpted Argentinian track at Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo.

The circuit – originally built in 2007 and then being rebuilt in 2012 with MotoGP making it’s return to Argentina in 2014 after a 15 year absence. Situated in the northern province of Santiago del Estero the circuit running at 4.8km (2.99 miles) and features 14 corners (5 left, 9 right) has etched it’s place into the modern history books and given us some of the biggest controversies of recent memory.

Who can forget the clash between Valentino Rossi and Marc Marquez on the penultimate lap in 2015 with Marquez falling and retiring from the race, leaving Rossi to take the win. Then again last year the two clashed again with Rossi hitting the dirt this time and Marc Marquez being disqualified from the race after a day that saw him stalling his bike on the grid, riding it the wrong way trying to restart his bike, a ride-through penalty and clashing with his competitors.

That’s not all, 2018 saw the debacle of everyone (except Jack Miller – who started on pole) pushing their bikes off the grid and into the pits before the warmup lap as they were on the wrong tyres (wets) for the start, meaning the start was delayed. This gave us one of the most bizarre situations with the entire grid pushed four rows back from their original positions, leaving Jack Miller at the front of the grid by himself.

Andrea Dovizioso enters round 2 in Argentina fresh off another last lap battle with Marc Marquez with which he bettered the Spaniard for the 4th time. Although Dovizioso won the race on track, there were doubts about the legality of his Ducati. After the race 4 manufacturers (Repsol Honda, Ecstar Suzuki, Gresini Aprilia and Red Bull KTM) lodged a protest against the spoiler that the three GP19’s (Dovizioso, Peteucci and Miller) were all running in the race. The appeal was rejected by Danny Aldridge – MotoGP’s technical director and taken to the FIM MotoGP Court Of Appeal.

On Tuesday The court rejected the protest and Ducati will continue to run the devise and Dovizioso remains the winner of the Qatar Grand Prix, unless the teams take the matter to the Court Of Arbitration for Sport within 5 days, meaning Sunday is the final day.

Ducati and Dovizioso come into this weekend leading the championship just like they did in 2018 but they haven’t had much success in Argentina. Both have had one sole podium and that came in 2015 when Dovizioso finished 2nd behind winner Valentino Rossi. Jack Miller took the marquee’s only pole position I’m a damp qualifying last year. Ducati & Dovizioso will want to continue the momentum and pick up their first win in Argentina and make it three wins in a row after Valencia 2018 and Qatar 2019.

Marc Marquez enters the weekend knowing that he and Honda will stand a very good chance of victory at the Argentinian round. He has been recovering from his badly damaged shoulder which was operated on over the winter and but with 3 weeks off between Qatar and Argentina believes the shoulder will be in a better condition. “This is my target, to arrive in Argentina 100 percent. I need to wait.”

Marquez holds the record for the most amount of poles at the circuit – with 4 out of 5 and the most wins – with 2, therefore he should be difficult to beat. Although he has 2 wins at the circuit and those are his only 2 finishes at the circuit. The only 3 times he has either crashed (2015 & 2017) or been excluded from the results in 2018. Meaning he has the unusual form of either picking up the maximum amount of points (25) or none at all. Can he balance that out with another win? Looking at his past speed, it’ll be hard to bet against him.

His Repsol Honda team mate – Jorge Lorenzo suffered a broken rib at Qatar – it was revealed after the race – when he highsided coming out of the turn 6 hairpin. He went on to finish 13th in the race but with 2 weekends of between Qatar and Argentina, this has given Lorenzo a much needed break to allow his rib to heal along with his scaphoid which he broke during the off season.

Lorenzo may come into this weekend feel rejuvenated but he comes to won of his least successful tracks. He has only scored one podium which came back in 2014 in the innaural race at the circuit when he finished 3rd. Since then he has finished 5th, crashed out twice and in the damp of 2018 finished 15th after struggling with front end confidence.

Yamaha come into this weekend looking for a better result than what they managed at Qatar, although Valentino Rossi finished 0.6 off the win, he was still 5th and his team mate Maverick Viñales could only manage 7th after starting from pole. Both riders come to a track that they have had success in the past, both having one win apiece – Rossi in 2015 and Viñales in 2017. The track does seem to suit the Yamaha and both riders will be aiming to have to try and get in and amongst the podium fight.

Both riders and their teams won’t be resting on their past successes and know they have a lot of work to do. The Yamaha does seem to have a fundamental issue, “unfortunately we always struggle with the rear grip” said Rossi after the Qatar Grand Prix, this has been an issue that has plagued Yamaha since 2017.

Alex Rins’ star grows ever brighter after a strong showing in Qatar, he returns to the place of his first MotoGP podium where he foigjt for the win in 2018 against Cal Crutchlow, Johann Zarco and Jack Miller. He’ll be looking to take his first win at a circuit the Suzuki generally goes well on.

Cal Crutchlow will be hoping to repeat the success of last year and taking his 4th win in MotoGP. He stand every chance of doing this, as he has scored 3 podiums in the past 4 season at the circuit including taking a hard fought win in 2018. He comes into the weekend fresh off the back of a 3rd pace finish in Qatar, 4 months after badly breaking his ankle, he may not be fully fit but Cal is one tough cookie.

Sunday Start Times – UK time: