It was a history-making Saturday afternoon for Aleix Espargaro and Aprilia Racing as they get set to start Sunday’s Gran Premio Michelin® de la República Argentina from pole position together for the first time. To get yourselves set for what promises to be a barnstorming race day in Termas de Rio Hondo, check out 10 stats that have emerged from qualifying.
1. Aleix Espargaro took Aprilia’s first pole position since the introduction of MotoGP™ in 2002 and the third overall in the premier class, along with Tetsuya Harada in Italy in 1999 and Jeremy McWilliams in Australia in 2000.
2. For his 200th MotoGP™ start, Aleix Espargaro has qualified on pole for the third time in MotoGP™, along with Assen 2014 (with Forward Yamaha) and Catalunya 2015 (with Suzuki). He becomes first rider to qualify on pole with a bike from three different manufacturers since the introduction of MotoGP™ in 2002.
3. Aprilia are the third manufacturer to qualify on pole position at Termas de Rio Hondo in MotoGP™ along with Honda (five pole positions) and Ducati (one).
4. Jorge Martin (Pramac Racing) has qualified second as top Ducati for his seventh front-row start since he stepped up to MotoGP™ last year. He has not qualified outside the top two in 2022 so far, but has failed to score points this year.
5. Luca Marini (Mooney VR46 Racing Team) has qualified third for his second front row start in MotoGP™ along with Emilia-Romagna last year, when he was also third.
6. Maverick Viñales (Aprilia Racing) has qualified in fifth place which is his best qualifying result since he joined Aprilia and his best qualifying result since he was on pole position in Assen last year. With Aleix Espargaro and Viñales, this is the first time there are two Aprilias in the top five in qualifying in the premier class.
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7. Fabio Quartararo (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP™) has qualified sixth for his best qualifying result in any class in Argentina.
8. Jack Miller (Ducati Lenovo Team), who took his only MotoGP™ pole position so far in Argentina in 2018, has qualified 11th for his worst qualifying result since he was 14th at the Teruel GP in 2020. He will also start 14th in Argentina after being handed a three-place Grid Penalty for disturbing another rider in Q2.
9. Championship leader Enea Bastianini (Gresini Racing MotoGP™) has qualified 13th, which is the first time this year he fails to start from the front two rows of the grid.
10. Francesco Bagnaia (Ducati Lenovo Team) has qualified 14th for his worst qualifying result since he was 16th in France last year.