Red Bull KTM Ajo rider achieves second consecutive third place on the grid, and will start tomorrow from the front row at Sachsenring. Brad Binder to start from fourth row, with Miguel Oliveira operated on today in Portugal.

Hanika, German Moto3 2015

Karel Hanika qualified on the front row of the grid for the German GP, placing third. With this, he equals what had until now been best his qualifying result in Moto3 -achieved at the Dutch TT a fortnight ago. Brad Binder will start the German round from eleventh place -on row four- after finding optimal pace for the race tomorrow. Miguel Oliveira has undergone surgery on Saturday in Portugal, to treat the fractured fourth metacarpal of his left hand.

With temperatures 3 degrees warmer than yesterday morning -22ºC- Hanika and Binder took another step forward in the final free practice and improved their lap times by more than half a second. The Czech was the rider to make the most progress, showing that he will be a contender for the podium with the sixth best lap. Meanwhile, Binder -among the three fastest riders in the first half of the session- went under 1:28 for the first time with a 1:27 638 for twelfth.

Confident of a good position on the starting grid at Sachsenring, Hanika faced qualifying calm and focused. He was slightly down the order during the first half of the session, but launched his definitive attack midway through to set a 1:26.941 time. That had him second on the timesheets until the final minutes, in which he dropped to third. A light crash 14 minutes from the end did not prevent him from going back out on track. Just outside the Top 10, Binder got his best time in his second run and put together a run of good laps. His final time of 1.27.355 placed him eleventh.

In tomorrow’s race -which starts at 11am- the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders will try to continue the successful streak at Sachsenring for their team over the last three years in Moto3 -which has seen two wins for Sandro Cortese and Jack Miller and a second place for Luis Salom.

Results (Qualifying practice)
1. Danny Kent (Honda) 1:26.420
2. Enea Bastianini (Honda) 1:26.939 +0.519
3. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:26.941 +0.521
4. Fabio Quartararo (Honda) 1:26.968 +0.548
5. Efren Vazquez (Honda) 1:27.005 +0.585
11. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:27.355 +0.935

Brad Binder,
“My pace with worn tyres -what we will use in the race- was good. I put them on for my first two stints and on the last one I used the qualifying tyre. I encountered a lot of traffic and even riders stopped still in the middle of the track, so it was impossible to do a good lap. They ruined my qualifying session and those of several others. For tomorrow I will try to fight for the front positions. With the race tyre I have a good pace -better than many of my rivals. It will be important to make a good start and not waste much time on the early laps, in which I will have to overtake several riders.”

Karel Hanika,
“It was not easy to fight with Danny [Kent], who is very strong and achieved a fantastic time. We tried to work well with used tyres, which will be important for the race. By putting new tyres on the bike I set some good laps, but I also found traffic and suffered a small crash at Turn 3 while trying to increase the pace, to cut a few tenths and close in on the pole time.  I’m happy. We’re on the front row, with a good setup and the bike working well. That is a good starting point. I am already looking forward to the race tomorrow.”