Ahead Of The Argentine MotoGP: Check Facts And Race Statistics At The Termas De Rio Hondo Circuit

The Argentine MotoGP is back. (Doc. MotoGP official site)

JAKARTA - After a two-week gap, the 2022 MotoGP will be held again. The racers will compete at the Termas de Rio Hondo Circuit, Argentina, April 1-3, 2022.

In the previous two years, namely 2020 and 2021, the Argentine MotoGP race was not held due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This 2022 race will be the 17th Grand Prix (GP) to be held in Argentina.

The first Argentine MotoGP took place in 1961 in Buenos Aires, marking the first time a GP outside Europe. The country's capital city hosted the last Grand Prix in 1999.

Not all top riders appeared in the race. The 52-lap (203km) 500cc class was won by the home racer Jorge Kissling (Matchless) beating compatriot Juan Carlos Salatino (Norton).

MotoGP statistics record that three Argentine riders have won Grand Prix racing, namely Sebastian Porto (seven wins in the 250cc class), Benedicto Caldarella (1962) and Jorge Kissling (1961) who each won one victory in the 500cc class.

This weekend's Argentina MotoGP will mark the 350th MotoGP race since the new premier class category was introduced in 2002.

Honda has won four MotoGP wins in Argentina since Termas de Rio Hondo entered the calendar in 2014 with appearances from Marc Marquez (2014, 2016 and 2019) and Cal Crutchlow (2018).

Marquez claimed his three wins in Argentina from pole position. He also secured pole position in Argentina in 2015 and 2017 but fell out while fighting for the race leadership position.

Besides Marquez, the other riders who have tasted the top podium in Argentina are Valentino Rossi who won the 2015 edition from eighth starting position, Maverick Vinales in 2017 after starting sixth, and Crutchlow who beat his rivals from tenth starting position.

Yamaha bagged two wins at Termas thanks to Rossi (2015) and Vinales (2017).

Ducati took two MotoGP podiums in Argentina after Andrea Dovizioso finished runner-up in 2015 and third in 2019. Jack Miller was fastest in 2018 qualifying and is the only rider other than Marquez to claim pole position at Termas.

Suzuki's best result at Termas was Alex Rins' third place finish in 2018, which became the Spaniard's first podium finish in MotoGP.

Pol Espargaro finished P10 in 2019, which was the best result for KTM at the time.

Stefan Brald's P7 finish was Aprilia's best result in Argentina, while Aleix Espargaro got his best finish in P9.

Ahead of the Argentine Grand Prix, Enea Bastianini currently leads the drivers' standings ahead of Brad Binder, Fabio Quartararo, Miguel Oliveira and Johann Zarco.

This is the first time that no Spaniard has finished in the top five since Turkey in 2006.

At the Indonesian GP, Darryn Binder finished P10 as his best result as a rookie. The South African rider currently leads the rookie drivers' standings with six points, ahead of Remy Gardner who has only collected one point.

Marco Bezzecchi is the only one of the five rookies this year to have won in Argentina while competing in the lower classes. He won his maiden Grand Prix win at Termas in 2018 in the Moto3 class.

Along with Bezzecchi, all of this year's rookies have been on the podium in Argentina in the lower class except for Raul Fernandez who raced there only once in 2019 when he finished P15 in Moto3.