Difficult day for Red Bull KTM Ajo in the rain at Silverstone

30/08/2015

Miguel Oliveira completes British GP in thirteenth position, cure while Karel Hanika and Brad Binder crash out.

Oliveira, Moto3 race, British MotoGP 2015

Oliveira, Moto3 race, British MotoGP 2015

The Moto3 class closed race day at the British GP -a day in which the weather proved to be of particular hindrance to the riders in the lower cylinder category. A completely wet track surface and heavy rain in the final stretch of the race made it something of a lottery, from which Miguel Oliveira earned three points with thirteenth place. Teammates Karel Hanika and Brad Binder both crashed out of the race when fighting for the top positions.

Starting second on the grid at Silverstone, Hanika made a good start to take the lead in the race. It would not last, however, as the Czech crashed at Turn 3. Binder had a similar crash on the same corner on Lap 3. Despite rejoining the race and gaining positions, both riders added further falls -Hanika crashed once more, Binder twice- which eventually ended a difficult race for them.

Oliveira was the sole representative of the Red Bull KTM Ajo to complete the race. The Portuguese -ninth on the starting grid in Great Britain, could not get comfortable on the track, dropping to 23rd place. He recovered positions on the bumpy Silverstone circuit to take the chequered flag in thirteenth position.

Following the twelfth race of the season, Miguel Oliveira is fifth overall with 114 points. Brad Binder is seventh with 99 points, whilst Karel Hanika is seventeenth with 33. The next race is the Grand Prix of San Marino and the Riviera di Rimini on the weekend of September 11th to 13th.

Race – Results
1. Danny Kent (Honda) 44:13.623
2. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) +8.492
3. Niccolo Antonelli (Honda) +13.189
4. Fabio Quartararo (Honda) +50.018
5. Livio Loi (Honda) +51.755
13. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +1:31.210
DNF – Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo)
DNF – Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo)

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2015
1. Danny Kent (Honda) 224 points
2. Enea Bastianini (Honda) 154 points
3. Romano Fenati (KTM) 1236 points
4. Efren Vazquez (Honda) 116 points
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 114 points
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 99 points
17. Karel Hanika (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 33 points

Miguel Oliveira,
“In wet races you need to have a good feeling and I did not have that today. From the beginning I was tense on the bike and I could not go as fast as I would have liked. I wanted to finish, whatever happened,  and in the end I was able to take three points that do not help much now, but may be important later on. The next time it rains I hope to have a better feeling. Now we have to think about Misano. Hopefully it will be a normal race and we can achieve a good result.”

Brad Binder,
“Today was a difficult day for us. We came into the race with great confidence and possibly that was not the best thing. On the first lap I was not comfortable, but gradually things improved. I thought I was able to push, and I passed a couple of riders for fourth place. However, I crashed at Turn 3 after losing the front. I got the bike back up and, although the handlebars were damaged, I continued as best as I could. It was not easy to ride with that damage, so I crashed a further two times. Three crashes in a race had never happened to me before.  We should learn from everything that happened today and go for the podium at Misano.”

Karel Hanika,
“We took the track after a small amount of experience with the wet track in the warmup, but in the race the conditions were completely different and it was very difficult to go as fast as in the morning. I made a good start, but at Turn 3 I lost the front and crashed. That was despite going slow, as my telemetry shows. I picked up the bike and managed to move up to sixteenth place in five laps. I felt pretty comfortable, but again I crashed out when cornering. I don’t know what to say after a race like this, other than we need a little luck.”

Aki Ajo,
“The Moto3 race was very, very tough, with very difficult conditions at all times and especially at the end of the race. Obviously, we are not satisfied with the results we achieved today. Miguel [Oliveira] managed to finish the race, but with a result that was not what we were expecting.  The positive has been that he did not crash. Brad [Binder] and Karel [Hanika] crashed several times and finally were forced to retire, so we cannot be happy. We have to discuss how to improve in these conditions and fight for the podium again at Misano. I would like to congratulate [Danny] Kent, who had another great race in extremely difficult conditions.”

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