Red Bull KTM Ajo rider extends series lead with the team’s third win in the last 4 visits to Mugello. Teammate Bo Bendsneyder finishes in eighteenth position.

Brad Binder showed excellent racecraft in a difficult, exciting Italian GP, taking his third consecutive win. The Moto3 race at Mugello saw a group of 21 riders finishing within less than 5 seconds of each other, and it was Binder who judged it best. The South African read the slipstream on the home straight to perfection, claiming his first podium at Mugello with his latest victory. Teammate Bo Bendsneyder just missed out on the points, finishing 18th.

Starting from the second row, the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was permanently at the head of a large group. Binder employed a great strategy and on the last lap took the lead, setting a pace that no one could match. Despite exiting the last corner in the lead, he prevented any rival from catching a tow and crossed the finish line first. A third straight win for the South African, it is the first time anyone from his country has achieved the feat since 1979. Bendsneyder managed to stay in the leading group and finished half a second off the points -illustrating the close nature of the Italian GP .

With this victory, Brad Binder extends his gap in the World Championship to 49 points. Bendsneyder is twenty-fifth with 2 points to his name.

Results (Race)
1. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 39:49.382
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda) +0.038
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Mahindra) +0.069
4. Niccolo Antonelli (Honda) +0.075
5. Fabio Quartararo (KTM) +0.077
18. Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +2.577

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2016
1. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 127 points
2. Jorge Navarro (Honda) 78 points
3. Romano Fenati (KTM) 67 points
4. Nicolo Bulega (KTM) 55 points
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Mahindra) 54 points
25. Bo Bendsneyder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2 points

Aki Ajo – Team Manager
“It was another incredible race. Brad [Binder] demonstrated his mental strength again, and how he has improved over the winter and the start of the season. Mugello is always a very difficult circuit and there is always a large group at the front, but Brad remained strong. There have been riders who scraped and damaged his bike a little, but he was very brave and also very intelligent at the end. It is clear that the situation in the World Championship is very good, and this weekend we were lucky in that respect. It is always a pity when riders fighting for the title crash, but it is too early to think about these things. We must take things race by race and Brad has to enjoy himself on the bike -as he has done so far. I am very happy with Bo [Bendsneyder]’s race, because it is the first time that he has been so close to the top positions. That is very good for his learning. Now we have to analyse how the race went, and I’m sure he will continue to learn things as he does every day. After this race he has much more desire, because he has seen that it is possible to be among the top positions.”

41 BRAD BINDER

“Today’s race was absolutely crazy, because we were exchanging positions all the time and it was very difficult to plan a strategy. It was even dangerous at times, when we had so many riders at the end of the straight taking advantage of slipstreams. On the last lap I saw that I could get to the front of the group and reach the leader, and so I did that. It’s fantastic to win again, and extend my run to three in a row. I cannot thank my team enough; they gave me the best bike possible today. This weekend was not easy, but with the experience of the team, who have won here three times in the last four years, we had an excellent bike for the race. We are still only six races into the season, so it’s not time to look at the standings just yet.”

64 BO BENDSNEYDER

“It was a difficult race, because at the beginning I lost some positions. We need to work on the early part of the race -the first three or four laps. After that, the race became tough. I overtook some riders but then they got back past me on the straight, and it was difficult to catch a slipstream from the back of the group. I’ll take the positive from this race, which is that we were only 2.5 seconds off the winner. Whilst that’s good, we wanted a better result. Tomorrow we will test here and we will do some race simulations, pushing especially on the first few laps.”