Marc Marquez will start the Grand Prix of Argentina’s MotoGP race from the top spot of the grid. Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa will join the World Champion in the front row.
Bradley Smith got the top spot easily in the beginning of Q1, but the fight for the second Q2 spot would be very close. Nicky Hayden seemed to be the favourite when he even improved Smith’s time with three minutes to go. Scott Redding went third fastest and his time was very close to Smith’s. In the end, Smith improved his time and ended the Q1 on top and Hayden made it to Q2.
Marc Marquez went first of the timesheets when Stefan Bradl suffered a crash without consequences for the rider, although the German rider couldn’t rejoin the session. Aleix Espargaro went second with the softer tyre compound, followed by Dani Pedrosa and Jorge Lorenzo.
All the riders came back to the pits in order to change tyres and joined the track for their last efforts with three minutes to go. Marquez improved his time but there was a big fight for the front row positions. Jorge Lorenzo and Pedrosa completed the top 3, but they couldn’t get any close to Marquez, who set a time of 1:37.689 that was seven tenths faster than Lorenzo in second place. Aleix Espargaro and Andrea Dovizioso finished in the top 5.