Positive signs as action gets underway at Termas de Río Hondo

Jorge Martín inside top fifteen on day one as riders struggle to match lap times from 2015, with Pecco Bagnaia 28^th


The youngest riders in the World Championship were the first on track today as Moto3 free practice signalled the start of two back-to-back Grands Prix on American soil. Lap times at the Termas de Río Hondo circuit in Argentina were notably slower than last year, due to the limited activity that takes place on the track here during the rest of the year. Enea Bastianini set the fastest lap with a time of 1'51.137, heading up a trio of Italians on top ahead of Romano Fenati and Andrea Migno. Up to fifteen riders lapped within the same second, however, suggesting that it is going to be another weekend of close racing in Moto3.
The job for the Aspar Mahindra riders today was to gather data for their MGP30 machines to compare with the 2015 version, giving themselves a base to work from tomorrow. Jorge Martín spent all day on used tyres and he is happy with his race potential although if he wants to be fighting at the front on Sunday he knows he must first secure a good grid position in qualifying tomorrow. The Aspar Mahindra youngster today tried the new fairing used by his team-mate Pecco Bagnaia last time out in Qatar and noticed an improvement in corner entry. Bagnaia, meanwhile, struggled to match the speed he showed at Losail on a difficult first day.


15^th Jorge Martín 1.52.090 (30 laps): “The track was quite dirty so we were unable to set fast times today. In general I am close to the top, just 0.9 seconds off, even though I made a mistake on my fast lap. My pace is good, I tried the hard tyre and I felt comfortable. I also tried the fairing Pecco used in Qatar and to be honest I could notice a big difference in braking because I can carry much more speed into the corner so in general I am happy. I can keep the brake on really late into the corner and that gives me a lot of confidence. We will try to improve tomorrow because the lap times are still a long way off where they should be, so we have to work hard to find two or three seconds. We spent the whole session on used tyres and I was fast so I am happy with our race pace at this stage, we just need to set a faster lap tomorrow.”

 28^th Pecco Bagnaia 1.53.058 (27 laps): “It has been a typical first day for us, starting off a long way back and with problems. We have to find a way forward because on the straights guys are passing me like I'm not there. We have to work out why because the other Mahindras are also passing me easily and I am struggling to stick with anybody. We have tried some things with the chassis but I am not sure so we will go back to what we had. It's a shame because it is not good to start a Grand Prix like this but we have to hope. Track conditions are not as good as last year, there is no grip, but it is the same for everybody, it's just that we are having more trouble than the others. I improved at the end after switching to the new tyre but not enough. We need to find three or four seconds.”