VALENTINO Rossi took his 84th MotoGP victory in Argentina having coming through from eighth on the grid.
Track temperature was a huge talking point in the paddock as riders were faced with the dilemma of which tyre compound to choose for the race. With tyre issues at the Argentinian circuit last year, Bridgestone released an extra hard option.
Both Marc Marquez and Cal Crutchlow decided to switch to the hard compound rear tyre at the last minute, whilst Rossi and team-mate Jorge Lorenzo went for the extra hard option.
It was Suzuki’s Aleix Espargaro who led the field into turn one on the Team Suzuki Ecstar GSX-RR, but it wasn’t long before Marquez regained the lead.
The young Spaniard pulled out an advantage of 0.8s by the end of the first lap by using the using the extra grip of the hard tyre early on in the race to extend his lead to over 4 seconds.
As the race progressed Rossi gradually carved his way thorough the pack from eighth on the grid. With no-one else in his way, Rossi set his sights on Marquez whose tyres were beginning to fade.
Lap by lap, the Italian gained ground on Marquez before eventually slipping up the inside of the Repsol Honda rider. Two corners later, Marquez clipped Rossi's rear tyre and crashed out. The Spaniard's frustration was clearly visible, but Race Direction ruled it as a ‘racing incident’ and took no further action.
Rossi took the win by over five seconds with Dovizioso crossing the line in second. Cal Crutchlow claimed the final podium position after battling with Ducati’s Andrea Iannone who finished in fourth.
Nine seconds behind, Bradley Smith finished in sixth behind Jorge Lorenzo. Aleix finished in seventh after leading the race to begin with as younger brother Pol finished in eighth.
CWM LCR Honda’s rookie Jack Miller took the Open class victory finishing in 12th in his third race in the premier class.
Race results:
1. Valentino Rossi ITA Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:35.644
2. Andrea Dovizioso ITA Ducati Team 41:41.329 (+5.685)
3. Cal Crutchlow GBR CWM LCR Honda 41:43.942 (+8.298)
4. Andrea Iannone ITA Ducati Team 41:43.996 (+8.352)
5. Jorge Lorenzo ESP Movistar Yamaha MotoGP 41:45.836 (+10.192)
6. Bradley Smith GBR Monster Yamaha Tech 3 41:55.520 (+19.876)
7. Aleix Espargaro ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 41:59.977 (+24.333)
8. Pol Espargaro ESP Monster Yamaha Tech 3 42:3.314 (+27.670)
9. Scott Redding GBR Estrella Galicia 0,0 Marc VDS 42:10.041 (+34.397)
10. Maverick Viñales ESP Team Suzuki Ecstar 42:10.452 (+34.808)
11. Danilo Petrucci ITA Pramac Racing 42:15.850 (+40.206)
12. Jack Miller AUS CWM LCR Honda 42:18.298 (+42.654)
13. Hector Barbera ESP Avintia Racing 42:18.373 (+42.729)
14. Loris Baz FRA Athina Forward Racing 42:18.497 (+42.853)
15. Stefan Bradl GER Athina Forward Racing 42:18.681 (+43.037)
16. Nicky Hayden USA Aspar MotoGP Team 42:18.896 (+43.252)
17. Eugene Laverty IRL Aspar MotoGP Team 42:19.044 (+43.400)
18. Mike Di Meglio FRA Avintia Racing 42:19.452 (+43.808)
19. Alvaro Bautista ESP Factory Aprilia Gresini 42:20.522 (+44.878)
20. Marco Melandri ITA Factory Aprilia Gresini 42:31.880 (+56.236)
21. Karel Abraham CZE Cardion AB Motoracing 42:39.015 (+1:03.371)
22. Alex De Angelis RSM Octo IodaRacing 42:44.088 (+1:08.444)
DNF. Hiroshi Aoyama JPN Repsol Honda Team
DNF. Marc Marquez ESP Repsol Honda Team
DNF. Yonny Hernandez COL Pramac Racing
