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.[1]
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.[2][3]
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.[2]
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 new test to which he tested negative, he left for Argentina and was therefore available.[4] In Moto2 class, Barry Baltus was out for the weekend with a broken right wrist remedied during qualifying for the Indonesian Grand Prix. The RW Racing GP team decided not to replace him. In Moto3 class, Taiyo Furusato recovered from his right ankle injury; the 2021 Asia Talent Cup champion thus made his debut in the class.[5] As already happened in the first two stages, Gerard Riu replaced David Muñoz because the latter was still under the limit minimum age to run in the category.[6]John McPhee does not race in this race (as in the Indonesian Grand Prix) after sustaining two fractured vertebrae during training.[7] He was not replaced.
The riders' classification saw Dennis Foggia, winner of the previous race, take the lead with 34 points, only one point ahead of Sergio García. Izan Guevara was third at 28 points, with Andrea Migno and Deniz Öncü following with 25 and points respectively. In the constructors' classification, Honda had full points with 50 points, with a 10-point advantage over Gas Gas. KTM and CFMoto were third (27 points) and fourth (22 points), while Husqvarna closed the ranking with 11 points. The ranking of the team championship had Gaviota GasGas Aspar Team as leader with 61 points; second was Leopard Racing with 40 points, 8 more than CFMoto Racing Prüstel GP, 14 from Red Bull KTM Tech3 and 15 from Rivacold Snipers Team.
