Marc Marquez heads to the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit in Argentina full of confidence after his emphatic victory in the US.
The next stop for the FIM MotoGP World Championship is the Grand Prix Red Bull De La República Argentina. The MotoGP paddock returns to the South American country for the second year in a row, and the 12th time in total.
The first Argentina GP took place in 1961 in Buenos Aires; the first time that a Grand Prix had taken place outside of Europe. The MotoGP World Championship returned to South America for the first time in 10 years in 2014 at the 2.98-mile Termas de Rio Hondo, making Argentina the 18th country to host a MotoGP race since the category was introduced in 2002.
Marc Marquez will head to Argentina in buoyant mood after easing to victory at the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas. The win in Austin was the 20th of his fledgling career, and equaled the number achieved by two-time 500cc World Champion Freddie Spencer.
The reigning MotoGP World Champion has even more reasons to be confident as his Repsol Honda team completed a 1-2 last year at the circuit, with Marquez leading home his teammate Dani Pedrosa ahead of the Movistar Yamaha’s of Valentino Rossi and Jorge Lorenzo.
Rossi flies to Argentina as the current leader in the Championship standings, adding his third placed finish in Austin to the victory in Qatar. As it stands, he is 1 point ahead of Andrea Dovizioso who made it two second-placed finishes in a row for his Ducati Team in the US.
The new GP15 proved that it could be competitive at a completely different track in Austin, having fought for the race win in Qatar, although the Factory Ducati rider did not have a great time in Argentina last year, finishing down in 9th.
His teammate Andrea Iannone actually enjoyed more success last year at the same race, as he finished 6th on the Pramac Racing Ducati, and he will be looking to do even better this year having made the step up to the Factory team for 2015.
Jorge Lorenzo showed that even bronchitis couldn't stop him in Austin, as he fought back to finish 4th despite being ill throughout the weekend. While his two fourth-placed finishes may not have been how he dreamt of starting the season, after the helmet issue in Qatar and his physical condition in Austin he will take heart from the fact he only trails his Movistar Yamaha teammate Rossi by 15 points, as the gap could have easily been much bigger.
Bradley Smith looks set to continue his battle to be the leading Satellite rider with his compatriot Cal Crutchlow with both men currently tied for 6th place in the Championship standings on 18 points. The Monster Tech 3 Yamaha rider Smith should have an advantage at the Termas de Rio Hondo after beating his teammate Pol Espargaro to 7th in Argentina last year, while Crutchlow has never raced at the circuit before after he was forced to miss the 2014 Grand Prix through injury.
Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS Racing’s Scott Redding will want to show that he has not lost any of the new found confidence he was showing on the Honda RC213V in Austin before his crash on the first lap of the race, while Team Suzuki Ecstar will look to build on their encouraging start to the season, which saw both of their riders finish inside the top 10 in the US.
Yonny Hernandez will be looking to bounce back from his crash in Austin with a better finish than the 12th place he managed in Argentina in 2014, while his Pramac Racing Teammate Danilo Petrucci will want to follow up his first top 10 finish for the Satellite team at the weekend with another impressive performance.
In the battle of the Open class, it’s currently Avintia Racing’s Hector Barbera who leads the way with 5 Championship points, two more than Nicky Hayden on the Aspar MotoGP Team Honda RC213V-RS. Keep an eye out for CWM LCR’s Jack Miller in Argentina as he continues to adapt to his Open class Honda after he finished last year's Moto3 race at the circuit in 3rd.
The Factory Aprilia Racing Team Gresini grabbed their first MotoGP Championship points in Austin as Alvaro Bautista finished in 15th place, although they will be hoping to have both riders complete the race this time after Marco Melandri had to retire with gearbox problems in Austin.
The action kicks off in Argentina on Friday 17 April, with the first MotoGP Free Practice session due to start at 09:55 local time. The MotoGP race will be shown LIVE on FOX Sports 1 Sunday with coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.
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