The 2022 Argentine Republic motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the Gran Premio Michelin de la República Argentina) was the third round of the 2022 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It was held at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Termas de Río Hondo on 3 April 2022.
In the MotoGP race, Aleix Espargaró won the race on his 200th MotoGP appearance after starting from pole position to take his and Aprilia's both maiden pole and victory in the premier class.
Background The race returned after the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Logistical issues The race weekend program underwent a change due to logistical difficulties affecting freight transport. Five cargo flights were supposed to ship paddock material from Lombok, Indonesia, to Tucuman, near Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, in the week following the Indonesian GP. Due to two separate issues affecting two different flights, the final cargo for the Argentine GP arrived in the country on Friday. The trip from Lombok to Termas consisted of five flights. Three of the planned cargo routes carried cargo from Lombok to Tucuman via technical stops in Mombasa, Lagos and Brazil. The other two routes involved the transport of goods from Lombok to Doha, from Doha to Accra in Ghana and then to Tucuman. The difficulties began on Wednesday when one of the five planes encountered a problem during a technical stop in Mombasa, Kenya. The first plane that had already arrived in Tucuman was then brought back to Lombok to collect more cargo, but this too suffered a technical problem during a layover the previous Wednesday evening. On the morning of the Thursday before the weekend, local time in Argentina, a cargo remained ashore in Mombasa, Kenya. The plane waited for a part to fly back, with two parts - one shipped from Europe and another part in reserve, shipped from the Middle East - already en route. The plane took off Thursday evening and followed the route from Mombasa via Lagos and Brazil, arriving in Tucuman on Friday.
The Friday practice sessions were canceled. On Saturday morning there were two free practice sessions for all classes whose combined rankings counted as entrance to Q2. The MotoGP class initially had a third free practice session planned before qualifying, but was later canceled. Qualifying was held in the afternoon but with a postponement of the start times. Warm Up sessions on Sunday morning were extended, with each race set to begin at the same start time as originally scheduled.
Riders' entries In MotoGP class, Marc Márquez was absent in this Grand Prix due to the new diplopia episode which occurred due to the fall in the warm up during the Indonesian Grand Prix. Honda test rider Stefan Bradl took his place. Takaaki Nakagami was initially declared absent in this Grand Prix due to the positivity of the COVID-19 test and therefore unable to start. Following the postponement of the racing program and a new test to which he tested negative, he left for Argentina and was therefore available. In Moto2 class, Barry Baltus was out for the weekend with a broken right wrist remedied during qualifying for the Indonesian Grand Prix. The RW Racing GP team decided not to replace him. In Moto3 class, Taiyo Furusato recovered from his right ankle injury; the 2021 Asia Talent Cup champion thus made his debut in the class. As already happened in the first two stages, Gerard Riu replaced David Muñoz because the latter was still under the limit minimum age to run in the category. John McPhee does not race in this race (as in the Indonesian Grand Prix) after sustaining two fractured vertebrae during training. He was not replaced.
MotoGP Championship standings before the race After the Indonesian Grand Prix, Enea Bastianini kept the lead of the riders' standings with 30 points, two more than Brad Binder and three more than Fabio Quartararo. The 25 points gained by Miguel Oliveira following the victory of the previous race, allowed him to move up to fourth position, followed by only one point by Johann Zarco. In the constructors' classification, KTM overtook Ducati (45 points against 41). Yamaha was third with 27 points, followed by Suzuki at 20 points, one more than Honda and Aprilia. In the team championship standings, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing took the lead with 53 points, followed by Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP and Team Suzuki Ecstar at 12 and 13 points respectively. Repsol Honda Team was fifth with 31 points, one more than Gresini Racing MotoGP.
Moto2 Championship standings before the race Celestino Vietti lead the riders' standings with 45 points, followed by Arón Canet and Sam Lowes with 36 and 29 points respectively. Somkiat Chantra, with his first career victory in Indonesia, climbed the ranking by 26 positions and was fourth with 25 points, one point more than Augusto Fernández. The constructors' classification saw the Kalex at 50 points, while Boscoscuro had 10 points. In the team championship standings, Flexbox HP40 and Elf Marc VDS Racing Team were tied on points with 48 points, three more than Idemitsu Honda Team Asia and Mooney VR46 Racing Team. Red Bull KTM Ajo is fifth with 35 points.
Moto3 Championship standings before the race The riders' classification saw Dennis Foggia, winner of the previous race, take the lead with 34 points, only one point ahead of Sergio García. Izan Guevara was third at 28 points, with Andrea Migno and Deniz Öncü following with 25 and points respectively. In the constructors' classification, Honda had full points with 50 points, with a 10-point advantage over Gas Gas. KTM and CFMoto were third (27 points) and fourth (22 points), while Husqvarna closed the ranking with 11 points. The ranking of the team championship had Gaviota GasGas Aspar Team as leader with 61 points; second was Leopard Racing with 40 points, 8 more than CFMoto Racing Prüstel GP, 14 from Red Bull KTM Tech3 and 15 from Rivacold Snipers Team.
Free practice
MotoGP In the first session, Takaaki Nakagami was the fastest, followed by Fabio Quartararo and Pol Espargaró. In the second session, Aleix Espargaró finished in the lead ahead of teammate Maverick Viñales and Jack Miller.
Combined Free Practice 1 and 2 The top ten riders (written in bold) qualified in Q2.
Fastest session lap BikerConstructorFP1FP2141 Aleix Espargaró Aprilia 1:39.224 1:38.244212 Maverick Viñales Aprilia1:39.3961:38.454343 Jack MillerDucati 1:39.8991:38.463420 Fabio QuartararoYamaha 1:39.1551:38.471533 Brad BinderKTM1:39.4251:38.548642 Álex RinsSuzuki 1:39.2741:38.619736 Joan MirSuzuki1:39.4271:38.626889 Jorge MartínDucati1:40.1821:38.70495 Johann ZarcoDucati1:39.8021:38.7971010 Luca MariniDucati1:39.8301:38.9151188 Miguel OliveiraKTM1:39.3181:38.9241263 Francesco BagnaiaDucati1:39.6221:38.9431330 Takaaki NakagamiHonda1:39.0281:38.9511421 Franco Morbidelli Yamaha1:39.9601:38.9591572 Marco BezzecchiDucati1:39.2301:38.9731633 Enea BastianiniDucati1:39.5891:38.9151744 Pol EspargaróHonda 1:39.2231:39.1781887 Remy GardnerKTM1:39.7041:39.5031973 Álex MárquezHonda1:39.7561:39.5532025 Raúl FernándezKTM1:40.4741:39.600214 Andrea DoviziosoYamaha1:40.7211:39.749226 Stefan BradlHonda1:40.3461:39.9402349 Fabio Di GiannantonioDucati1:40.0041:40.0402440 Darryn BinderYamaha1:40.2931:40.078 OFFICIAL MOTOGP COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES REPORT
Qualifying MotoGP Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2141 Aleix EspargaróAprilia Qualified in Q2 1:37.6881 1289 Jorge MartínDucati Qualified in Q21:37.8392310 Luca MariniDucati Qualified in Q21:38.1193444 Pol EspargaróHonda1:38.5011:38.16542512 Maverick ViñalesAprilia Qualified in Q21:38.1965620 Fabio QuartararoYamaha Qualified in Q21:38.2816744 Álex RinsSuzuki Qualified in Q21:38.45573836 Joan MirSuzuki Qualified in Q21:38.516895 Johann ZarcoDucati Qualified in Q21:38.53791030 Takaaki NakagamiHonda1:38.5231:38.5761041143 Jack MillerDucati Qualified in Q21:38.5841451233 Brad BinderKTM Qualified in Q21:38.9321141323 Enea BastianiniDucati1:38.566N/A121463 Francesco BagnaiaDucati1:38.610N/A1351521 Franco MorbidelliYamaha1:38.805N/A151688 Miguel OliveiraKTM1:38.871N/A1661772 Marco BezzecchiDucati1:38.877N/A17184 Andrea DoviziosoYamaha1:38.938N/A181973 Álex MárquezHonda1:39.095N/A1972049 Fabio Di GiannantonoDucati1:39.126N/A202125 Raúl FernándezKTM1:39.153N/A212287 Remy GardnerKTM1:39.159N/A2282340 Darryn BinderYamaha1:39.380N/A23246 Stefan BradlHonda1:39.487N/A24 OFFICIAL MOTOGP QUALIFYING RESULTS
Moto2 Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2154 Fermín AldeguerBoscoscuro Qualified in Q2 1:43.3061 1237 Augusto FernándezKalex Qualified in Q21:43.4562314 Tony ArbolinoKalex Qualified in Q21:43.5133475 Albert ArenasKalex Qualified in Q21:43.61542596 Jake DixonKalex Qualified in Q21:43.6225613 Celestino ViettiKalex Qualified in Q21:43.6456735 Somkiat ChantraKalex Qualified in Q21:43.67173879 Ai OguraKalex Qualified in Q21:43.7108964 Bo BendsneyderKalex Qualified in Q21:43.72791018 Manuel GonzálezKalex1:44.1561:43.7611041122 Sam LowesKalex Qualified in Q21:43.787111240 Arón CanetKalex Qualified in Q21:43.81012139 Jorge NavarroKalex Qualified in Q21:43.8391351484 Zonta van der Goorbergh Kalex1:44.1851:44.068141516 Joe RobertsKalex Qualified in Q21:44.18915166 Cameron BeaubierKalex 1:44.1321:44.1891661751 Pedro AcostaKalex Qualified in Q21:44.205171823 Marcel SchrötterKalex1:44.1991:44.554181919 Lorenzo Dalla PortaKalex1:42.244N/A197202 Gabriel RodrigoKalex1:44.390N/A202124 Simone CorsiMV Agusta1:44.431N/A212242 Marcos RamírezMV Agusta1:44.445N/A2282312 Filip SalačKalex1:44.501N/A232428 Niccolò AntonelliKalex1:44.521N/A242552 Jeremy AlcobaKalex1:44.652N/A259265 Romano FenatiBoscoscuro1:44.671N/A26274 Sean Dylan KellyKalex1:44.798N/A272861 Alessandro ZacconeKalex1:44.798N/A28102981 Keminth KuboKalex1:44.876N/A29 OFFICIAL MOTO2 QUALIFYING RESULTS
Moto3 Fastest session lap BikerConstructorRowQ1Q2111 Sergio GarcíaGas Gas Qualified in Q2 1:48.4291 1271 Ayumu SasakiHusqvarna Qualified in Q21:48.6002328 Izan GuevaraGas Gas Qualified in Q21:48.6243454 Riccardo RossiHonda 1:49.9191:48.72642566 Joel KelsoKTM1:49.9801:48.7355696 Daniel HolgadoKTM Qualified in Q21:48.8656743 Xavier ArtigasCFMoto Qualified in Q21:48.94373816 Andrea MignoHonda Qualified in Q21:48.9538924 Tatsuki SuzukiHonda Qualified in Q21:49.05091010 Diogo MoreiraKTM Qualified in Q21:49.061104117 Dennis FoggiaHonda Qualified in Q21:49.12811125 Jaume MasiàKTM Qualified in Q21:49.186121327 Kaito TobaKTM Qualified in Q21:49.376135146 Ryusei Yamanaka KTM 1:49.8221:49.400141548 Iván OrtoláKTM Qualified in Q21:49.435151653 Deniz ÖncüKTM Qualified in Q21:49.5311661782 Stefano NepaKTM 1:49.8991:44.205171899 Carlos TatayCFMoto Qualified in Q21:49.724181919 Scott OgdenHonda1:50.094N/A1972064 Mario AjiHonda1:50.104N/A202123 Elia BartoliniKTM1:50.138N/A212272 Taiyo FurusatoHonda1:50.209N/A2282331 Adrián FernándezKTM1:50.229N/A232418 Matteo BertelleKTM1:50.423N/A242567 Alberto SurraHonda1:50.544N/A2592620 Lorenzo FellonHonda1:50.740N/A262722 Ana CarrascoKTM1:51.031N/A272887 Gerard RiuKTM1:51.128N/A28102970 Joshua WhatleyHonda1:53.108N/A29 OFFICIAL MOTO3 QUALIFYING RESULTS
Race MotoGP