MotoGP Argentina GP: Espargaro leads Aprilia 1-2 in FP2, Bagnaia drops into Q1

The rescheduled second practice session on Saturday was extended from 45 minutes to an hour to make up for Friday’s running being cancelled due to freight delays.

With no FP3 taking place this weekend due to the revised schedule, the qualifying groups were decided on the combined order at the end of FP2.

Most of the field focused on race running in the opening half of FP2, with conditions identical to what will likely be experienced on Sunday in the 25-lap grand prix.

Though long running was the priority, that didn’t stop Aprilia’s Aleix Espargaro – starting his 200th MotoGP race this weekend – from moving up to second on the combined times straight away with a 1m39.116s.

With 15 minutes of the session gone, Espargaro bettered Takaaki Nakagami’s FP1 best with a 1m38.956s on a used soft rear tyre.

It wouldn’t be long before Espargaro’s team-mate Maverick Vinales found time on his run to move into second to annex the top of the leaderboard for Aprilia.

Tech3 KTM rider Remy Gardner suffered a crash early on in FP2, while a frustrated Pol Espargaro fell off his Honda at Turn 1 just over 20 minutes into the session.

Maverick Vinales, Aprilia Racing Team

Photo by: Gold and Goose / Motorsport Images

And disaster struck KTM’s Brad Binder, who suffered an apparent engine blow-up into Turn 13 midway through FP2.

Aleix Espargaro’s lap continued to act as the benchmark until the final 20 minutes, when team-mate Vinales lit up the timing screens to fire in a 1m38.454s on a fresh soft rear tyre.

But Espargaro was also now out on track on a fresh soft tyre and reclaimed top spot with a 1m38.244s a few moments later.

This would keep Espargaro top of the pile, with Vinales’ time also coming under no threat through to the chequered flag.