2022 Argentine Republic motorcycle Grand Prix
The 2022 Argentine Republic motorcycle Grand Prix (officially known as the Gran Premio Michelin de la República Argentina) was the third round of the 2022 Grand Prix motorcycle racing season. It was held at the Autódromo Termas de Río Hondo in Termas de Río Hondo on 3 April 2022. In the MotoGP race, Aleix Espargaró won the race on his 200th MotoGP appearance after starting from pole position to take his and Aprilia's both maiden pole and victory in the premier class. Background The race returned after the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 editions as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistical issues The race weekend program underwent a change due to logistical difficulties affecting freight transport. Five cargo flights were supposed to ship paddock material from Lombok, Indonesia, to Tucuman, near Termas de Rio Hondo in Argentina, in the week following the Indonesian GP. Due to two separate issues affecting two different flights, the final cargo for the Argentine GP arrived in the country on Friday. The trip from Lombok to Termas consisted of five flights. Three of the planned cargo routes carried cargo from Lombok to Tucuman via technical stops in Mombasa, Lagos and Brazil. The other two routes involved the transport of goods from Lombok to Doha, from Doha to Accra in Ghana and then to Tucuman. The difficulties began on Wednesday when one of the five planes encountered a problem during a technical stop in Mombasa, Kenya. The first plane that had already arrived in Tucuman was then brought back to Lombok to collect more cargo, but this too suffered a technical problem during a layover the previous Wednesday evening. On the morning of the Thursday before the weekend, local time in Argentina, a cargo remained ashore in Mombasa, Kenya. The plane waited for a part to fly back, with two parts - one shipped from Europe and another part in reserve, shipped from the Middle East - already en route. The plane took off Thursday evening and followed the route from Mombasa via Lagos and Brazil, arriving in Tucuman on Friday. The Friday practice sessions were canceled. On Saturday morning there were two free practice sessions for all classes whose combined rankings counted as entrance to Q2. The MotoGP class initially had a third free practice session planned before qualifying, but was later canceled. Qualifying was held in the afternoon but with a postponement of the start times. Warm Up sessions on Sunday morning were extended, with each race set to begin at the same start time as originally scheduled. Riders' entries In MotoGP class, Marc Márquez was absent in this Grand Prix due to the new diplopia episode which occurred due to the fall in the warm up during the Indonesian Grand Prix. Honda test rider Stefan Bradl took his place. Takaaki Nakagami was initially declared absent in this Grand Prix due to the positivity of the COVID-19 test and therefore unable to start. Following the postponement of the racing program and a