What to expect at the MotoGP Argentina GP

The Argentina Grand Prix is again on the MotoGP calendar this season after a 12 months’s absence, with Termas de Rio Honda staging the second spherical of the championship this weekend.

Whereas the opening race in Thailand could not have delivered any nice shock when it comes to the winner, with Marc Marquez sweeping the weekend on his first outing aboard the manufacturing facility Ducati, historical past suggests something is feasible in Argentina.

Changeable climate and weird or first-time winners have develop into one thing of a convention at this spherical of the championship. Key to the component of unpredictability is the relative lack of information at this venue, the place three of the previous 5 MotoGP races have been cancelled (see under). Its early-season date can also be an element, as producers are typically nearer on efficiency whereas they determine their new machines.

Final time this race was run, two years in the past, Marco Bezzecchi scored his breakthrough MotoGP win in a wet-weather affair. That weekend additionally featured Alex Marquez – who was second on this 12 months’s Thailand opener – scoring his first pole place.

The 2023 version additionally marked a Brad Binder dash race win for KTM, a producer for whom victories have been collectors’ objects all through its time in MotoGP.

One 12 months earlier got here a memorable breakthrough for Aleix Espargaro. His defeat of Jorge Martin that day was additionally the long-awaited first win for Aprilia in MotoGP.

Few will neglect the controversial 2018 race, through which Cal Crutchlow scored the final of his three profession MotoGP wins. Jack Miller’s first pole place had performed out in uncommon style at first of the race, with the remainder of the sphere being compelled to begin a number of rows behind him after altering from moist to dry tyres following the sighting lap.

Can anyone beat Marc Marquez?

Regardless of the historical past of South American surprises, it’s going to nonetheless take a courageous soul to guess in opposition to Marc Marquez this weekend after his dominant pole, dash and grand prix victory in Thailand. It should be noticed that not each Argentina GP has featured a exceptional new winner: Marquez received there in 2014, 2016 and 2019.

He survived one other uncommon chapter in race administration historical past – a obligatory mid-race bike change for all riders – to win the 2016 version.

Marquez may need taken the 2015 race too, however fell after a memorable conflict with final winner Valentino Rossi.

Whereas Marquez has these three wins to his title, the person touted as his largest 2025 rival, team-mate Francesco Bagnaia, has by no means scored a podium in any class in Argentina. He additionally crashed out of second place in MotoGP’s final go to right here in 2023. With that modest document in thoughts, maybe a repeat of the third place he scored in Thailand wouldn’t be a foul return for the 2022 and 2023 world champion.

Reasonably than Bagnaia, it was Alex Marquez who emerged as his brother’s largest menace on the opening spherical. Returning to the scene of his first pole place, the youthful Marquez may be anticipated to maintain the strain on his brother as soon as once more. The star of winter testing, Alex led the center a part of the Thai GP earlier than Marc reclaimed the benefit. He’ll know that the early season, and this unpredictable race particularly, may very well be his finest alternative to attain a win aboard the year-old GP24.

With Aprilia and Bezzecchi having made their breakthroughs in Argentina in 2022 and 2023 respectively, the omens are good for the brand new Aprilia/Bezzecchi mixture, which opened with a sixth place in Thailand. Bezzecchi’s first aim, nonetheless, shall be to beat star rookie Ai Ogura, who was fifth aboard the unbiased Trackhouse Aprilia.

With Honda having taken a fantastic stride over the winter, regulate Johann Zarco particularly this weekend. The Frenchman, who completed an encouraging seventh in Thailand, was Moto2 winner at Termas de Rio Hondo in 2015 and 2016.

Paddock

Photograph by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Photos

A patchy internet hosting historical past

Even off the monitor, the Argentina spherical of the championship has hardly ever been simple. First run in 1961, it made solely intermittent appearances on the calendar till 2014. And even since then, it has dropped off the schedule 3 times.

Whereas the cancellation of the nation’s MotoGP spherical through the pandemic years of 2020 and 2021 aligned with worldwide occasions, the 2024 race solely fell by the wayside on account of state spending cuts introduced in by new president Javier Milei.

The pandemic wasn’t the one off-circuit subject in 2021, with a fireplace having destroyed the pit complicated that 12 months.

In 2022, the primary day of observe was cancelled in its entirety after delays delivery the MotoGP circus’s freight to the venue.