Takaaki Nakagami leaves it late to top a wild Argentina MotoGP FP1

Nakagami showed impressive pace on more than one occasion𒀰, while 🍨also demonstrating an impressive ability to adapt to the Termas de Rio Honda Circuit after arriving late.
With Marc Marquez ruled out of the Argentina MotoGP due to ongoing diplopia issues, Honda were able to take some comfort in the fact Nakagami was available. The LCR man was initially ruled out due to testing positive for COVID-19, however, a negative PCR test on Friday was enough for t♉he Japanese rider to make the 🍌late trip.
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In what was MotoGP’s first visit to Argentina since 2019, a full line-up of riders immediately took to th♔e Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, with track time more valuable than ever.
With only a few minutes gone Nakagami settled into his rhythm as he went quickest. However, the Japanese rider was soon relegated to second by reigning world champi✱on Fabio Quartararo.
Off the back of his first podium this season, Quartararo was one of those who also adapted𒊎 quickest to track condit𝓰ions. Likewise was Pramac rider Jorge Martin.
The Spaniard, who is yet to score points through the opening two races, went three tenths clear of Nakagami, before Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia shot to the top of the leaderb🅠oard.
As g✃rip continued to improve, Brad Binder put his KTM top before getting very loose on entry to turn one.
In desperate need of a return to form, Francesco Bagnaia was once again languishing down the order to begin FP1, not a sight D▨uc🍸ati would have wanted to see.
With 15 minutes gone there were no Ducati riders inside🃏 the top ten, instead it was heavily dominated by Yamahas, Suzukis, KTMs and Aprilias.

There were worrying signs for rookie Fabio Di Giannantonio, who lost part of his fairing alongside the star🐈t-fi🐷nish straight.
The brokꦆen piece was quickly retrieved by a Doꦑrna official before any potential incident could take place.
Trying everything to find more pace,﷽ Bagnaia got turn seven all wrong as he ran off-track. ജLuckily for the Italian it wasn’t a crash, which would have been a nightmare due to the condensed schedule.
Despite the difference in pace between Jack Miller (outside the top ten) and ꦗQuartararo, both riders got a considerable wobble on, as bike shaking was becoming quite the norm on corner exit. ༒;
With that said, t🧸he pace difference was soon reduced to two tenths as Miller went second behind the Frenchman.
Joining the bike shaking club, Luca Marini suffered a slightly less a👍ggressive case of front-end shaking as he exited turn 11.
Still looking for its first MotoGP win, Apဣrilia added to what was an impressive start to the day by showing even more serious potential half way FP1.
A. Esﷺparga🤡ro began a stint that saw him set four consecutive fastest laps, while Maverick Vinales was running a comfortable fourth.

After going four tenths clear of his brother Pol, it took several minutes before any other rid🍸er closeᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚd in on the Spaniard.
That rider was Quartarar❀o as the Monster Energy Yamaha rider went P2, however, +0.390s was the margin between the p𝔉air.
While Bagnaia clawed his way up to seventh with just over 15 minutes to go, it seemed as though the long corners were proving troublesom🅺e for the Bologna bullets. 🌸;
Although Espargaro looked set to close out FP1 fastest, a late change to a new rear tyre saw Nakagami go 🌟quꦅickest.
However, in what appeared to be a carbon copy of the beginning to FP1, Q💮uartararo went fastes𝄹t from the fifth-year premier class rider.
Making early stateme𒉰nts of intent were rookies Marco Bezzecchi and Remy Gardner. The latter went as high as P10, however, the real pace was coming from the Italian.
Bezzecchi went top with just under a minute to go, in what looked to be his first time-topping session. That was before late laps from both Espargaro’s Quartararo anﷺd ꧅Nakagami.