Aleix Espargaro wins for Aprilia in Argentina, SA's Brad Binder sixth

 • Aleix Espargaro won his first MotoGP race in 200 starts in Argentina. • Espargaro's victory is the first for Aprilia in the four-stroke era of MotoGP. • South African Brad Binder retained second place in the 2022 World Championship standings with a sixth place finish.

The third stop on the 2022 MotoGP calendar saw the travelling circus head to Argentina and the Termas de Rio Honda circuit. The weekend's schedule initially hung in the balance as a plane carrying a large volume of MotoGP cargo was hampered by flight and freight clearing delays. 

The late arrival of this equipment saw all of Friday's sessions cancelled. Practice commenced on Saturday but only afforded riders two sessions to refine their setup before the all-important qualifying session.

Aleix Espargaro, aboard his Aprilia, managed to snatch pole position, the first for the Italian manufacturer in the four-stroke era. South Africa's Brad Binder showed good pace in the last moments of the qualifying session, but a missed gear saw him only manage 10th position in qualifying.

On Sunday, a lightning start saw Jorge Martin on the Pramac Ducati snatch the lead in the first corner, ahead of Aleix Espargaro. The duo slowly built up a comfortable lead on the chasing pack, trading the fastest lap times during the first third of the race.

A few small mistakes by Aleix Espargaro saw him lose time to the race leader, with Martin stretching his lead to more than a second on lap ten. Espargaro managed to recover to the point where he was fighting for the lead with seven laps to go once more. After several attempts, Espargaro finally managed to overtake Martin on lap 21 and retained the lead until the chequered flag.

Your #ArgentinaGP ???? heroes ?? ?? @AleixEspargaro ??