Alvaro Bautista just misses out on Q2 in Argentina

Jack Miller took pole position on an historic day in Argentina, the Australian becoming the first rider to do so on an Independent team Ducati. Miller’s lap came on his final attempt, edging out Dani Pedrosa and Johann Zarco, who complete the front row. Andrea Dovizioso, winner of the opening round in Qatar, will start from eighth place with nearest championship rival Marc Márquez in sixth.

The Ángel Nieto Team came within touching distance of Q2 on two occasions today, firstly with Álvaro Bautista, who was just 0.050 seconds shy in free practice yesterday and then today in Q1 with Karel Abraham, who qualified thirteenth. Bautista will start from nineteenth on the grid despite ending today’s first free practice in third place, ahead of Abraham in fourth.

19th Álvaro Bautista 1:50.606:
“The conditions were strange today. Normally we struggle in mixed conditions but today I felt comfortable. It is strange because in the dry the wet tyres overheat and slide around a lot. But today in the dry sections the tyres were grippy and with a softer tyre for sure I would have had a better feeling. FP4 in the wet wasn’t bad, but then it started to dry a little, not enough, and we struggled more in qualifying. With the same conditions as this morning it could have been better. We’ll have to see how thing are tomorrow with the weather and conditions and try to get the best out of what we have.”