MotoGP Argentina – Miller gambles… and wins!

Bruno Gomes

April 7, 2018

Jack Miller showed his talent and with slicks on his Ducati he grabbed pole position for the Argentina GP

Alma Pramac Ducati rider Jack Miller took his maiden MotoGP pole position today at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit, where tomorrow we will be able to watch the second round of the Grand Prix World Championship season, the Argentina GP.

As in the first day, the weather conditions were far from perfect, and the rain made it especially tricky for all riders to get the best performance from their bikes.

In the final qualifying session of MotoGP, QP2, the young Australian challenged everyone by choosing slick tires instead of rain tires like all other riders had mounted on the bikes. Jack Miller had to overcome some scary moments on the last flying lap, but his gamble payed off just when everyone was already thinking that Dani Pedrosa (Repsol Honda) was going to start tomorrow’s race in front of the field.

With the track showing a clear dry line in most of the layout, it was turns 7, 8 and 10 that proved to be more difficult for Miller, with the Alma Pramac Ducati rider saving no fewer than 3 almost certain crashes! But he held it together and danced the Argentinian tango like no one else.

With Jack Miller obtaining his first pole position in MotoGP and Dani Pedrosa having to content with second place, the front row for tomorrow’s race is completed with the presence of Johann Zarco (Monster Yamaha Tech3).

Hafizh Syahrin didn’t feel so comfortable on the bike in the qualifying session for the Argentina GP

Malaysian star rider Hafizh Syahrin didn’t have a good Qualifying 1 session.

The Monster Yamaha Tech3 rider showed an excellent pace in FP3, but later on Syahrin couldn’t find the pace to get better lap times. He eventually finished qualifying in 23rd position and this is what he had to say about today’s performance

“For me it’s quite hard to adapt myself to the big machine in this kind of conditions. This morning I had a very good pace and a great feeling with the bike, but we tried to change some small things to improve, but finally, my sensation for the grip was not as positive as before. I tried hard to lower my lap time, but I was missing the right feeling. The race tomorrow for sure isn’t going to be easy, nevertheless I’ll give my best to try and end up as the best rookie”.

In Moto2, it was also a first time: The Catalan rider Xavi Vierge (Dynavolt Intact GP) produced a magnificent final lap during qualifying for the Moto2 race and snatched pole position from Lorenzo Baldassarri (Pons HP40), the Italian leading the time sheet for most of the session. Third fastest time went to British rider Danny Kent (MB Conveyors – Speed Up Racing), which is also his best starting position since joining Moto2.

On track and facing the difficult conditions of this Argentina GP were also Khairul Idham Pawi (Idemitsu Honda Team Asia) and Zulfahmi Khairuddin (SIC Racing Team). The Malaysian riders finished the Moto2 qualifying as 27th and 31st, respectively.

And in the lower GP class, Moto3, it was also a first time pole position for Tony Arbolino (Marinelli Snipers Team) who managed to time a perfect lap just before the rain started to fall in Termas de Rio Hondo, and that made it impossible to Marco Bezzecchi (Redox PrustelGP) to get pole position.

Adam Norrodin almost made it to the front row!

With the third fastest time of the day was home rider Gabriel Rodrigo (RBA BOE Skull Rider) who pipped Malaysian Adam Norrodin (Petronas Sprinta Racing) from the first row of tomorrow’s race by just 0.016s!