MotoGP

Spanish star ends 200-race wait for 'really special' first MotoGP win.

“The last laps were my strongest. Espargaro twice nipped past, only to run wide. Spain’s Aleix Espargaro won his first MotoGP race at the 200th attempt in Argentina on Sunday and tearfully admitted: “It’s really special”.

On his 200th MotoGP™ start, the Spaniard claims an emotional first victory for himself and Aprilia; Ducati and Suzuki pick up podiums.

Aleix Espargaro fended off Jorge Martin to claim his first-ever MotoGP victory and the first for Aprilia in the modern era in a tense Argentina Grand Prix.

Espargaro tried again into Turn 5 on lap 20 and once more ran wide. Aleix Espargaro now leads the championship for the first time in his MotoGP career, the Aprilia rider seven points clear of Binder, with Bastianini nine points back in third. But on the following tour the Aprilia rider executed the perfect block pass to take the lead. Espargaro nailed his run out of the Turn 3 right-hander and capitalised on a headshake for Martin’s Ducati to pull ahead into the braking zone of Turn 5. Martin sat at the front of the pack for the first 17 of 25 laps, absorbing pressure from Espargaro – who ran wide at Turn 1 on the 10th tour and dropped a second back – before the first raid on his lead came. Poleman Espargaro got a tardy launch off the line and allowed second-placed Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati to move into the lead.

Race results from the Argentine MotoGP at Termas de Rio Hondo, round 3 of the 2022 world championship.

But it was a case of third time lucky as Espargaro held his line into the hairpin with five laps to go. Qatar winner and world championship leader Enea Bastianini began the race twelfth on the grid, reached a peak of eighth, but then ran wide and dropped to 13th. That also meant the current 'standard' rear tyre construction, introduced in 2020, had not previously been used at the track. The Monster Yamaha star gained a place when countryman Johann Zarco slid off ahead of him, but could only recover to eighth. Bagnaia then chipped his way up the order to fifth but Miller couldn't make an impression on the race and finished 14th. A dream day was made complete by Espargaro now also leading the world championship standings.

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It will be a very long championship and, if we don't make mistakes, we can still fight for the podium or the win. It took me 32 years but I managed it ”. “To all those who work in Aprilia. For me, I’m obviously extremely happy to win the race, but for me personally nothing really changed. It is also good for the championship ”. The RS-GP is one of the best bikes in the world ”. But even if you do touch like we did in the last race it’s nice and this is racing."

Warm-up results from the Argentine MotoGP at Termas de Rio Hondo, round 3 of the 2022 world championship.

That also means the current 'standard' rear tyre construction, introduced in 2020, has not previously been used at the track. The likes of Fabio Quartararo, Brad Binder and Takaaki Nakagami then moved ahead with soft tyres front and rear. Espargaro, who will start today's race from Aprilia's first pole position of the four-stroke era, was soon back in charge of the timesheets, running the hard front-soft rear tyre combination that is expected to be the favoured choice for the race.

Aleix Espargaro fended off Jorge Martin to claim his first-ever MotoGP victory and the first for Aprilia in the modern era in a tense Argentina Grand Prix.

But on the following tour the Aprilia rider executed the perfect block pass to take the lead. KTM’s Brad Binder was a further 0.352s behind Bagnaia in sixth, with Maverick Vinales taking seventh on the second of the Aprilias. However, the Aprilia rider ran wide and allowed Martin back through. Espargaro tried again into Turn 5 on lap 20 and once more ran wide. Aleix Espargaro now leads the championship for the first time in his MotoGP career, the Aprilia rider seven points clear of Binder, with Bastianini nine points back in third. Espargaro nailed his run out of the Turn 3 right-hander and capitalised on a headshake for Martin’s Ducati to pull ahead into the braking zone of Turn 5.

Aleix Espargaro made history in the Argentina Grand Prix as he gave Aprilia its first MotoGP victory and scored his first win.

Joan Mir was fourth on the second of the Suzukis, while Francesco Bagnaia came from 13th to fifth on his factory Ducati. Martin held onto second for his first podium of the year, while Alex Rins closed in on the lead battle in third for both his and Suzuki’s first rostrum of the 2022 campaign. All six manufacturers have now won races in MotoGP on the current grid, while Espargaro sets the record for the most starts before his first grand prix victory.

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It’s unknown whether the issue was the same as in Mandalika, but it’s a result that means the Italian has just two points in three races. A crash in Q1 halted his attempts of progressing to Q2, something that looked more than possible given his pace in practice. Since returning to Yamaha machinery Dovizioso has looked a shell of the rider that finished a three-time runner-up with Ducati. And although the Repsol Honda rider lost out to Rins after several laps, Espargaro managed to hang on - suggesting a battle for third would go down until the wire. A long way off Quartararo in qualifying, the Italian is yet to really gel aboard the 2022 M1 package. A stunning start from Takaaki Nakagami saw the LCR Honda rider move into sixth place come the end of lap one. After qualifying in ninth - some four tenths off his team-mate - Zarco looked to have solid pace in the race before making the error. Despite starting in seventh, Rins made a great start which was key to his race. The French rider also cited a lack of grip as a major hindrance to his race. The biggest disappointment in today’s race was reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo. The factory Yamaha rider looked poised for a podium fight based on his race pace throughout the weekend, however, a shocking start was then followed up by a fairly lacklustre race. Martin showed just why Ducati have such high hopes for him, as it was a race where he wasn’t expected to battle with Espargaro, yet he did so in fine fashion. Aleix Espargaro gets full marks after a dominant weekend led to him capping off his first-ever Aprilia pole with the Italian manufacturer’s first-ever victory in the MotoGP era.