Argentinian GP circuit: corners, length and critical points for the MotoGP

With the events of Portugal’s Sprint and long race still on its mind, the world championship travels straight on to South America, where the second round of the 2023 world championship, the Argentinian GP, will play out at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit this coming weekend.

Aside from the inaugural round (2014) and that of 2015, the Argentinian GP has always preceded the Americas round. The 2023 event will mark the eighteenth Argentinian round, and the seventh to be held at Termas de Rio Hondo.

History, features and incidents at the Termas de Rio Hondo circuit

With the Buenos Aires track no longer suitable for motorcycle racing, there was a need to give the Argentinian people their race back, an event that had been missing from the calendar since 1999, when Argentinian hero Sebastian Porto was still on the grid.

In 2007, Dorna and the FIM commissioned Italian architect Jarno Zaffelli with the construction of a new facility that would allow the world championship to return to Argentinian soil, fifteen years after its previous visit. The Autodromo di Termas de Rio Hondo was inaugurated in 2008, and MotoGP completed its first tests there in 2013, in preparation for a race later that year. That race was ultimately postponed until 2014, for political reasons relating to Repsol YPF and the Argentinian government.

The track measures 4810 metres and consists of 14 turns, five left-handers and nine right. It is 16 metres wide and its longest straight measures 1076 metres (between turns 4 and 5).

Incidents

In the seven recent editions of the Argentinian GP, there have been three incidents of note, or rather Rossi-Marquez in 2015, the 2016 Iannone-Dovizioso ‘fratricide’ and Marquez-Rossi in 2018.

There is still talk of the 2015 accident eight years on (with Rossi discussing it with Gianluca Gazzoli and Marquez in his documentary, "All In"), the contact between the pair in Argentina causing an initial crack in their relationship. Marquez, struggling with his tyres, had gradually lost his lead with just a few laps to go. Rossi passed him at turn 5, a right-hander at the end of the straight, and there was initial contact. Marquez then crashed through the next turn when his front wheel made contact with Rossi’s rear.

The Ducati debacle of 2016 occurred on the very last lap. In a race dominated by Marquez, attention focused more on the battle going on behind him, between Iannone, Dovizioso, Rossi and Pedrosa. Iannone wanted second place at all costs and made his move through turn 13. Unfortunately, though, he lost the front and took down poor Dovizioso in the process. The result? A DNF for Iannone, and Dovizioso pushing his bike over the line, with Rossi and Pedrosa on the podium.

Perhaps the most tragicomic of the incidents was that of 2018, which began with the start procedure itself. First Miller found himself alone out front with everyone else a few rows behind due to a tyre change. Marquez then turned his bike off and, to restart it, decided to push it the wrong way on track. He was given a ride through penalty as a result but, after serving this penalty, the Spaniard made it his mission to catch up, though not without coming into contact with various riders including Dovizioso, Aleix Espargaró, Maverick Vinales and, lastly, Valentino Rossi, who crashed shortly afterwards.

Particular features of the Argentinian track

The toughest braking points are: turn 2, brief acceleration out of turn 1 before coming to a slow left-hander, the location of various crashes (Pedrosa knows something about this, having gone down in 2017); turn 5, which comes after a long straight and sees riders clutching the brakes to set up the right-hand hairpin (the site of the first Rossi-Marquez skirmish in 2015); turn 7-8, riders exit the long turn 6 still on the brakes in order to set up this tricky double corner, difficult in terms of the front brake; turn 13, the penultimate corner that requires almost upright braking in order to enter a rather slow corner than then gives way to the final turn and the finish line.

Points at which overtaking is possible are: turn 1, a long right-hander, but it’s not easy to make a pass stick because the main straight is not long and doesn’t offer much of a slipstream for the rider behind; the brake point into turn 5, coming off the long straight where Aleix Espargarò passed Martin in 2022; the turn 7-8 brake point, coming out of 5-6; and, for those who want to take a risk, turn 13.

Argentinian GP stats and records

The Argentinian GP comes of age this year. This is in fact the eighteenth edition of the round, the first ten of which ran at Buenos Aires between 1961 and 1999 and the latest seven playing out at Termas de Rio Hondo.

The first edition at Termas was in 2014 and saw Fenati win in Moto3 (a first victory for the Sky Racing Team VR46), Rabat in Moto2 (he was later crowned champion) and Marquez in MotoGP, while the latest 2022 edition brought success for Sergio Garcia in Moto3, Celestino Vietti in Moto2 and Aleix Espargaró in MotoGP (a first MotoGP win for both rider and Aprilia).

Across all classes, Spain has amassed 9 wins (3 with Marc Marquez), Italy 7, France 2 (a Zarco double in Moto2 in 2015 and 2016), Britain 2 (Kent and Crutchlow) and Malaysia 1 (Pawi in 2016)

As for MotoGP, the fastest ever lap was set by Marc Marquez in 2014 (1’37”683) while the best lap in a race was set by Valentino Rossi in 2015 (1’39”019). Last year saw Aleix Espargarò set pole in 1’37”688, with a fastest race lap of 1’39”375

In Moto2, Fermin Aldeguer set the fastest ever lap in 2022, a 1’42”547, while the quickest lap of the race (a new lap record of 1’42”829) was set by Celestino Vietti, again in 2022.

As for Moto3, the fastest lap was recorded by Sergio Garcia in 2022 (1’48”429) while a new lap record was set by Andrea Migno during the 2022 race, 1’48”834.