Aleix Espargaro defeated Jorge Martin to clinch his maiden MotoGP victory in Argentina. This also handed Aprilia a long-awaited first win in the modern MotoGP era. Pramac Racing’s Martin ended up second, scoring his first points this season, while Suzuki’s Alex Rins rounded out the podium.

• Aleix and Aprilia take championship lead
• Nine different riders on the podium in the first three races

Espargaro and Aprilia’s first MotoGP win

Starting his 200^th MotoGP race from pole position, Aleix Espargaro had a sluggish start and lost the lead to Martin. As the top two pulled away, Pol Espargaro and Rins had moved up to third and fourth places, respectively. But with just 11 laps to go, Pol crashed out at Turn 2, taking some of the pressure off Rins.

Aleix Espargaro spent the middle section of the race clawing back time lost due to some small errors. With eight laps to go, he’d caught up to Martin and moved out of the slipstream to briefly take the lead. However, he ran wide, allowing Martin to move ahead again. The same sequence repeated two laps later and Martin was still in the lead. Rins wasn’t too far off either, just a second behind the leaders.

Then finally, on what was his third attempt, Aleix made the move stick. This time around, he held on to the lead to take an emotional first win in the premier class. Aprilia returned to MotoGP in 2015 and after struggling for years, had picked up its first podium at Silverstone last year.

Martin and Rins on the podium

Martin finished 0.807secs adrift in second place. The Pramac rider may have missed out on the win, but he ended up collecting crucial points as he could not complete the first two races of the season – Qatar and Indonesia. Behind him, Rins also picked up his first podium finish this year. It’s already shaping up to be a competitive MotoGP season – the first three races have seen nine different riders finish on the podium.

Joan Mir finished behind his Suzuki teammate in fourth place. After failing to make it out of Q2, Ducati’s Francesco Bagnaia pulled off a recovery ride to fifth place, followed by KTM’s Brad Binder and Aprilia’s Maverick Vinales.

Reigning world champion Fabio Quartararo could only finish eighth, with Marco Bezzecchi and Enea Bastianini completing the top 10.

2022 MotoGP championship standings

For the first time in his MotoGP career, Aleix Espargaro is leading the world championship by seven points from Binder, however, there are just 10 points separating the top five riders. Aprilia have also taken the lead in the teams’ championship.

2022 Argentina MotoGP results

Who do you think will win this weekend (April 8-10) at the Circuit of the Americas? Tell us in the comments.