After the weather drama two weeks ago at the Grand Prix of Indonesia, it appears that chapter two of the drama series came around quickly to spice things up again in Argentina. Indeed, the schedule of the Gran Premio Michelin® de la República Argentina was disrupted due to logistical issues causing a delay in the delivery of the freight coming from Mandalika. With some teams completely missing their materials, there was no other choice than cancelling Friday’s action, as the delivery of the freight was due to arrive on the night of Friday to Saturday. Following a tremendous effort from all teams in the night, the action was finally able to start at lunch time on Saturday, 12:35 local time (GMT-3). Free Practice 1 declared open a revisited Super Saturday combining two free practices sessions followed directly by the qualifying sessions. Exceptionally, the combined times of FP1 and FP2 determined the entry lists to Qualifying 1 and 2 respectively.

Eager to get back on his KTM RC16 for his third MotoGP race with high hopes of scoring his first points in the class, rookie Raul Fernandez had a timid start during Free Practice 1 and admitted not being able to find the expected sensations on his bike as he finished in P23 with 1’40.474. With only two hours before the start of the second and final free session, the crew was able to work on the bike in order to make some improvements, which allowed the Spanish rider to progressively feel better on his bike as the day went by. Times improved at the end of the second session (1’39.600) but it meant that Raul had to go through Qualifying 1, with fifteen minutes to produce the best-time possible. The number 25 will start from the 21st position on Sunday, after finishing qualifying in 1’39.153.

Alongside him, he will have his teammate, the Australian Remy Gardner, who will start from the 22nd position on Sunday when the lights go out for the Argentina Grand Prix. After three years, Remy finally came back to Termas de Rio Hondo, one of his favorite tracks of the calendar. Excitation to get on the bike this morning to ride the 4.806 km layout got even bigger following the cancellation of Friday’s activities. This morning, Remy produced an amazing first session and finished with a promising P13 in 1’39.704. There was potential to produce a good second session for a Q2 spot, but unfortunately Remy crashed when losing the front this afternoon, which slowed down his efforts he had made until then. The number 87 went through Qualifying 1, during which he registered 1’39.159, only 0.006s behind Raul Fernandez. Tomorrow, he will be looking to get a good start to be able to overtake, and hopefully grab more points for the Rookies Championship. Don’t miss the return of the Gran Premio Michelin® de la República Argentina tomorrow, at 15:00 local time (GMT-3).

Raul Fernandez

Grid Position: 21

Time: 1'39.153

Laps: 7

"It was only my second time here in Argentina and I think that we had a positive day. During Free Practice 1, I felt like I had too much work to do and I was not understanding very well why. In-between sessions, the team worked well and I was able to considerably improve during FP2. The positive feelings on the bike came back and we were able to produce a session with a good race pace. I think that tomorrow’s race will be interesting for us, so I will try to enjoy it!"

Remy Gardner

Grid Position: 22

Time: 1'39.159

Laps: 7

"Today overall has been a tough day. I crashed during Free Practice 2 and lost a bit of confidence at the same time. I think that we need to improve our qualifying sessions because at the moment, it is our weak point. We have another forty minutes tomorrow to improve and hopefully find a better direction for the race."