Marc Marquez Triumphs the #ArgentinaGP

That time of the week again, where the adrenaline is rushing through your veins. Adrenaline so high, your veins will either be Blue, Orange or Red!

It was in the Free practice 4 when Michelin (Tyre Partners) and Race Direction weren’t entirely sure about how the Michelin Tyres will hold up for the entire span of 25 laps at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina, which led them to reduce the laps from 25 to 20, to have a safer race without complications. The weather also played an important role which made this a Flag-to-Flag race, where all the riders had to mandatorily switch their bikes in the ninth, tenth or the eleventh lap.

Lights were green, flags were off… and it was time to take off!

Jorge Lorenzo zipped through the riders and secured the top spot. Andrea Iannone too had an incredible start but unfortunately came in contact with Dani Pedrosa which got both of them off the line, causing Dani to drop down below the tenth position. “If I would’ve stayed on the line, I would’ve crashed, so I had to go wide” says Dani Pedrosa.

By the end of the first lap, Cal Crutchlow and Aleix Espargaro saw themselves suffer a lowside taking them both off

the track; however they both could rejoin the race!

The whole race was about the trio, Valentino Rossi, Dovizioso and Marquez in the dog fight. Rossi sniffing up the inside of Dovizioso at every chance he got. Marquez took advantage of this situation and slid past through both of them by the start of Lap 4.

Jack Miller was particularly impressive in the second lap as he charged through the 8th spot to claim 7th position right behind Jorge Lorenzo. It didn’t take him much to zip past Lorenzo a few seconds into the lap. However his charge was short-lived as he fell on the 4th Lap.

The treacherous Turn 1 that has claimed the best of Riders took another victim, Jorge Lorenzo. He had a lowside and that was the end of his race.

Marquez and Rossi continued their dog fight with Rossi closing in on him every second. Rossi took the lead on Lap 9 but Marquez took it back on the next corner!

Viñales shone right through as he got ahead of the Ducati Pair, Iannone and Dovizioso for the 3rd place. Iannone and Viñales were the first riders to enter the pits on lap nine to change their bikes, Pedrosa, Baz, Barbera, Laverty and Bradl following suit as Marquez and Rossi kept fighting in the lead. With 11 laps to go, Marquez and Rossi both came in to the pits for the switch.

Marquez had an incredible advantage as he felt his comfortable best on the 2nd bike which was exactly the opposite in the case of Rossi. “I didn’t feel so good about the 2nd bike like the first one, so I lost some speed” says Vale.

Rossi’s was lapping slower, as he couldn’t find the pace to catch Marquez. This gave Viñales and the Ducati Duo to take advantage and go for the kill with the “Doctor”. Viñales crashed out of the race after a brief battle with Iannone. This gave Rossi a small amount of breathing room but Dovizioso picked up the pace to get ahead of Rossi and his Ducati Rival.

It all went south for the Ducati Pair as Iannone began attacking his teammate Dovizioso, instead of defending his position. The pair crashed out together at Turn 12 after an overly animated move from Iannone.

In the end of it all, Marquez triumphs the #ArgentinaGP on pole position by over 7 seconds ahead of Rossi who was by default moved to 2nd place with Dani Pedrosa taking a surprise third place finish. Determined to finish, Dovizioso showed true spirit and determination to push his Ducati across the line for 13th place. Laverty gets his career best result in MotoGP™, in the 4th position.

Aleix Espargaro finished 11th after his early fall.

Termas de Rio Hondo was one big challenge for a lot of riders as the perilous Turn 1 and Turn 6 claiming many riders, but not all gave in to the peril!

Marquez leads the championship with 41 points so far with Rossi just 8 points behind him with Dani Pedrosa at 27. With that, we look forward to the Circuit of the Americas next week.

Pictures: motogp.com, Marc Marquez Facebook Page