The 2018 Argentine Republic motorcycle Grand Prix was the second round of the 2018 MotoGP season. It was held at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Santiago del Estero on 8 April 2018. In the MotoGP class, Jack Miller scored his first MotoGP pole position.

Having been declared a wet race at the time of the sighting lap, all but one rider selected rain tires. Pole-sitter Jack Miller being the only rider to initially go out on slick tires. Prior to the warm-up lap, every rider on rain tires elected to return to the pits to change to slick tires. Returning to the pits after the sighting lap usually results in the rider starting the race from pit-lane, however, the race officials deemed it a safety concern to have all but one rider start from pit-lane. The start of the race was delayed due to the unusual situation. Eventually, the grid was reset positioning the entire field in their original qualifying positions, but filling the grid from the rear. The result was Jack Miller (who didn't return to the pits for a tire change) in the first position on the grid and the other riders in formation several rows back.

After the warm-up lap, Marc Márquez stalled his motorcycle while lining up on the grid. Attempting to restart his bike, Márquez pushed the motorcycle away from his grid position. He was successful in restarting the stalled motorcycle, but race officials ran out and instructed him to return to pit-lane. Márquez ignored the race officials' instructions, proceeded to ride his motorcycle back in the opposite direction toward his original starting position and rejoined the rest of the riders who were all waiting for the race start. After jumping to an early lead, Marc Márquez was issued a ride-through penalty for riding his motorcycle in the opposite direction on the track. Rejoining near the back of the field, Márquez began advancing position passing slower riders. In his attempt to regain positions, Márquez was issued a second penalty when he collided into Aleix Espargaró being required to drop a position for irresponsible riding. Márquez earned his third penalty of the race for crashing into yet another rider. This time he collided into Valentino Rossi in the closing stages of the race, resulting in Rossi being pushed onto the wet grass where he fell. Rossi was able to remount and finish the race, but was unable to secure any points after being taken out by Márquez. Márquez continued to finish the race in 5th position, which would have earned 11 championship points, but receiving a 30-second time penalty after the race for crashing into Rossi put him outside of a points earning position. In this race, Marc Márquez earned 3 separate penalties.

In the closing laps there were multiple passes for the podium positions between Zarco, Rins and Crutchlow as the riders struggled with tire wear and damp patches on the track.

Cal Crutchlow took Honda's 750th victory and became the first non-factory rider to lead the championship since Sete Gibernau in the 2004 Catalan Grand Prix, as well as the first British rider to lead the championship since Barry Sheene in 1979. Repsol Honda failed to score for the first time since the previous year's event.

Classification MotoGP + Pos. No. Rider Team Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 35 Cal Crutchlow LCR Honda Castrol Honda 24 40:36.342 10 25 2 5 Johann Zarco Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 24 +0.251 3 20 3 42 Álex Rins Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 24 +2.501 5 16 4 43 Jack Miller Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 24 +4.390 1 13 5 25 Maverick Viñales Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 24 +14.941 9 11 6 4 Andrea Dovizioso Ducati Team Ducati 24 +22.533 8 10 7 53 Tito Rabat Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 24 +23.026 4 9 8 29 Andrea Iannone Team Suzuki Ecstar Suzuki 24 +23.921 12 8 9 55 Hafizh Syahrin Monster Yamaha Tech 3 Yamaha 24 +24.311 23 7 10 9 Danilo Petrucci Alma Pramac Racing Ducati 24 +26.003 18 6 11 44 Pol Espargaró Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 24 +31.022 16 5 12 45 Scott Redding Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 24 +31.891 15 4 13 30 Takaaki Nakagami LCR Honda Idemitsu Honda 24 +32.452 24 3 14 21 Franco Morbidelli EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 24 +42.061 22 2 15 99 Jorge Lorenzo Ducati Team Ducati 24 +42.274 14 1 16 19 Álvaro Bautista Ángel Nieto Team Ducati 24 +42.625 19 17 12 Thomas Lüthi EG 0,0 Marc VDS Honda 24 +43.350 20 18 93 Marc Márquez Repsol Honda Team Honda 24 +43.860 6 19 46 Valentino Rossi Movistar Yamaha MotoGP Yamaha 24 +52.082 11 20 17 Karel Abraham Ángel Nieto Team Ducati 24 +1:03.944 13 21 10 Xavier Siméon Reale Avintia Racing Ducati 24 +1:10.144 17 Ret 38 Bradley Smith Red Bull KTM Factory Racing KTM 17 Accident 21 Ret 41 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia Racing Team Gresini Aprilia 13 Electronics 7 Ret 26 Dani Pedrosa Repsol Honda Team Honda 0 Accident 2

Moto2 + OFFICIAL MOTO2 REPORT Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 54 Mattia Pasini Kalex 23 40:37.538 4 25 2 97 Xavi Vierge Kalex 23 +0.850 1 20 3 44 Miguel Oliveira KTM 23 +1.414 7 16 4 7 Lorenzo Baldassarri Kalex 23 +5.178 2 13 5 73 Álex Márquez Kalex 23 +5.431 8 11 6 87 Remy Gardner Tech 3 23 +10.425 9 10 7 36 Joan Mir Kalex 23 +13.379 17 9 8 77 Dominique Aegerter KTM 23 +13.460 11 8 9 42 Francesco Bagnaia Kalex 23 +22.038 15 7 10 23 Marcel Schrötter Kalex 23 +22.867 20 6 11 27 Iker Lecuona KTM 23 +24.102 21 5 12 52 Danny Kent Speed Up 23 +25.972 3 4 13 22 Sam Lowes KTM 23 +26.010 6 3 14 32 Isaac Viñales Kalex 23 +31.769 13 2 15 5 Andrea Locatelli Kalex 23 +33.264 26 1 16 10 Luca Marini Kalex 23 +33.828 12 17 45 Tetsuta Nagashima Kalex 23 +48.603 23 18 4 Steven Odendaal NTS 23 +50.651 14 19 13 Romano Fenati Kalex 23 +51.594 19 20 40 Héctor Barberá Kalex 23 +53.070 18 21 62 Stefano Manzi Suter 23 +53.260 32 22 20 Fabio Quartararo Speed Up 23 +56.979 28 23 24 Simone Corsi Kalex 23 +59.266 22 24 89 Khairul Idham Pawi Kalex 23 +1:10.121 27 25 16 Joe Roberts NTS 23 +1:12.051 10 26 63 Zulfahmi Khairuddin Kalex 23 +1:32.993 31 27 21 Federico Fuligni Kalex 23 +1:33.218 30 28 64 Bo Bendsneyder Tech 3 23 +1:36.078 25 29 51 Eric Granado Suter 23 +1:38.951 24 Ret 9 Jorge Navarro Kalex 3 Exhaust 5 Ret 41 Brad Binder KTM 1 Collision 16 Ret 95 Jules Danilo Kalex 1 Retired 29

Moto3 + OFFICIAL MOTO3 REPORT Pos. No. Rider Manufacturer Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 12 Marco Bezzecchi KTM 21 41:43.822 2 25 2 44 Arón Canet Honda 21 +4.689 8 20 3 21 Fabio Di Giannantonio Honda 21 +4.963 6 16 4 33 Enea Bastianini Honda 21 +5.818 5 13 5 7 Adam Norrodin Honda 21 +9.112 4 11 6 72 Alonso López Honda 21 +13.349 21 10 7 48 Lorenzo Dalla Porta Honda 21 +13.925 15 9 8 23 Niccolò Antonelli Honda 21 +14.363 7 8 9 19 Gabriel Rodrigo KTM 21 +16.573 3 7 10 14 Tony Arbolino Honda 21 +24.299 1 6 11 88 Jorge Martín Honda 21 +25.373 9 5 12 42 Marcos Ramírez KTM 21 +26.060 26 4 13 16 Andrea Migno KTM 21 +26.376 10 3 14 84 Jakub Kornfeil KTM 21 +26.488 18 2 15 11 Livio Loi KTM 21 +26.537 16 1 16 71 Ayumu Sasaki Honda 21 +29.252 13 17 17 John McPhee KTM 21 +32.937 22 18 41 Nakarin Atiratphuvapat Honda 21 +33.892 23 19 27 Kaito Toba Honda 21 +37.665 24 20 22 Kazuki Masaki KTM 21 +38.202 17 21 24 Tatsuki Suzuki Honda 21 +1:02.305 19 22 40 Darryn Binder KTM 21 +1:17.384 25 23 65 Philipp Öttl KTM 21 +1:36.986 20 24 76 Makar Yurchenko KTM 20 +1 lap 28 Ret 5 Jaume Masiá KTM 19 Accident 11 Ret 10 Dennis Foggia KTM 18 Accident 14 Ret 75 Albert Arenas KTM 17 Accident 12 Ret 8 Nicolò Bulega KTM 16 Handling 27

Championship standings after the race

MotoGP Rider Points 1 Cal Crutchlow 38 2 Andrea Dovizioso 35 3 Johann Zarco 28 4 Maverick Viñales 21 5 Marc Márquez 20 6 Jack Miller 19 7 Danilo Petrucci 17 8 Valentino Rossi 16 9 Álex Rins 16 10 Andrea Iannone 15

Moto2 Rider Points 1 Mattia Pasini 38 2 Lorenzo Baldassarri 33 3 Francesco Bagnaia 32 4 Xavi Vierge 28 5 Miguel Oliveira 27 6 Álex Márquez 27 7 Marcel Schrötter 15 8 Remy Gardner 14 9 Joan Mir 14 10 Brad Binder 10

Moto3 Rider Points 1 Arón Canet 40 2 Jorge Martín 30 3 Marco Bezzecchi 27 4 Fabio Di Giannantonio 26 5 Lorenzo Dalla Porta 25 6 Niccolò Antonelli 21 7 Gabriel Rodrigo 18 8 Adam Norrodin 16 9 Enea Bastianini 13 10 Alonso López 10

Notes

References