Red Bull KTM Ajo rider stars on great first day at Silverstone, placing second fastest overall. Brad Binder finishes fifteenth after improving during both sessions.

Miguel Oliveira made a great start to the weekend at Silverstone, and quickly established himself as one of the riders to watch for Sunday’s race. The Portuguese quickly put his disappointing end to the Austrian GP behind him to go fast right from the get-go for the British GP, clocking the second quickest time and putting in a terrific pace. Brad Binder also enjoyed a good Friday, finishing in fifteenth place.

The good conditions for FP1 allowed Oliveira to set a 2:08.678 lap, putting him third. A further positive was his 8 laps in the 2:08 range, and he was the only rider to achieve such a feat. Binder’s first Free Practice was also positive, although he was suffering from severe pain in his left arm. A 2:09.573 last lap positioned him fourteenth.

It took only 3 laps for Oliveira to match his morning time in FP2, and 2 further laps to set his best time of the day: 2:07.763. The Portuguese would not improve in the rest of the session, but maintained a strong pace and was second on the timesheet, giving him optimism for tomorrow’s qualifying session. Binder overcame his physical discomfort and started the 45-minute run at the top alongside his teammate. The South African improved his FP1 time by almost a second and finished the session in fifteenth place: 2:08.600.

Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 3:05pm local time.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 2:07.491
2. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:07.763 +0.272
3. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 2:07.774 +0.283
4. Dominique Aegerter (Suter) 2:08.139 +0.648
5. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 2:08.139 +0.648
15. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:08.600 +1.109

 

41 BRAD BINDER
“Today was good. During the second lap in the first session, when I wanted to change direction, I felt something akin to a jerk in my left arm. It was very painful, but after half an hour I felt good. Today hasn’t been a great day, but we have continued to take steps forward. Finishing fifteenth is not bad –to be 1.1s off the top at Silverstone is not too big a gap, and third position is only 0.8s away.

We are working hard and are focused for tomorrow so that we can take a big step forward. I have to basically improve two points of my riding, because I feel good with the bike. I’m a bit slow on the back straight and the third from last corner, and if I can change that I can cut half a second. That would take me closer to the front.”

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“It was a good first day here at Silverstone. The bike was always working well, so we haven’t changed many things, and we have grown and grown. I’m happy about how things have gone so hopefully the weather conditions are going to be favourable tomorrow as well. I hope I can take a risk to be on either the first or second row -as always- and give my all. Tomorrow we will do a ‘contrast test,’ if you can call it that, because we don’t have much to do on the bike. We must also adjust my riding a bit.”