Termas’ race pace protagonists

MotoGP™ FP4 is all about dialling in your settings for the all-important race on Sunday and at the Gran Premio Motul de la República Argentina four riders emerged with eye-catching runs ahead of qualifying: Marc Marquez (Repsol Honda Team), Cal Crutchlow (LCR Honda Castrol), Valentino Rossi (Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP) and Jack Miller (Pramac Racing).

Pole sitter Marquez has looked the strongest in terms of one-lap pace and race pace all weekend, and FP4 indicated he has a slight edge over his rivals. The Spaniard did four laps in the 1:39s on a hard-front and soft-rear tyre combination with his best being a 1:39.341, as Marquez followed that time with a 1:39.388 and 1:39.618 towards the end of the session. On the medium rear tyre, Marquez also dipped into the 1:39s.

Crutchlow’s pace isn’t far off Marquez’ though, but will the British rider come to rue his P8 in qualifying? On the hard-medium tyre combination, Crutchlow was able to string together four consecutive laps in the 1:39.8s and 1:39.9s. His fastest lap came on his final run on the same tyre combination, a 1:39.529 on his 11th lap was followed by a 1:39.843 on his 12th.

Rossi will start 4th and he also was able to delve into the 1:39s, but only on the one occasion. The nine-time World Champion looks to be favouring the hard-front medium-rear Michelin tyre combination and on his first run, Rossi did five consecutive low to mid 1:40s. Run two however showed ‘The Doctor’ is on the fringes of being able to produce consistent 1:39s. Rossi did four laps all in the 1:40.0 bracket, with his 1:39.916 coming on his 11th flying lap of FP4.

And finally we have Miller, who did just the one long run in FP4. The Australian didn’t manage to set a 1:39, but his pace was consistently in the lower regions of the 1:40s on the hard-front soft-rear tyres. A 1:40.335 on his 18th lap of a soft rear tyre is impressive from the man who starts from P5 on the grid, with his best time coming on his 6th lap in the form of a 1:40.083.

But it won’t just be these for riders in contention on Sunday, so be sure not to miss Round 2 of the 2019 season from Argentina at 15:00 local time (GMT-3).