Red Bull KTM Ajo rider finishes 6th on first day at MotorLand, with both a wet and a dry session. Brad Binder finishes the day 24th.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team were in action on Friday at the third Spanish round of the season, the Aragon GP. The day featured demanding mixed conditions, with rain making an appearance in FP1 and FP2 remaining dry. Miguel Oliveira finished 6th and Brad Binder 24th in the combined standings.

In the morning session the Moto2 riders ran wet tyres from start to finish, including a last half hour in heavy rain. Oliveira was comfortable in those conditions, leading the way in FP1 until 8 minutes before the end and finally finishing fifth with a time of 2:10.569. Binder had a more difficult session and rode conservatively, setting a best time of 2:12.574 for 23rd place on his last outing.

After waiting almost ten minutes in FP2 for the track to dry, the riders went out with slick tyres. These were the first dry laps with a Moto2 bike for both at MotorLand, since Oliveira was injured last year. The Portuguese was back up amongst the fastest riders at around the midway point of the session, and on his last lap set his best time of 1:55.354 for 6th place. Binder had a hard time adapting to the track and had to settle for 24th -1:56.524.

Tomorrow Oliveira and Binder will look for a good result in qualifying, starting at 3:05pm. The best grid spot for either at the Aragon GP is a front row for Oliveira in 2013, with Red Bull KTM Ajo in Moto3.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:54.439
2. Franco Morbidelli (Kalex) 1:54.633 +0.194
3. Takaaki Nakagami (Kalex) 1:54.980 +0.541
4. Sandro Cortese (Suter) 1:55.205 +0.766
5. Simone Corsi (Speed Up) 1:55.273 +0.834
6. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:55.354 +0.915
24. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:56.524 +2.085

41 BRAD BINDER
“Today wasn’t so great a day for us, because we weren’t able to put in many dry laps. It was a little disappointing, because we were really hoping good weather today. It seems as if I’m still finding it hard to adapt to new circuits with the Moto2 bike, so I need more time. In addition, today we went out with a very different setup to that which I had used up until now, and I have to get used to it lap-by-lap. Tomorrow we should have dry conditions. I’m going to give my all to achieve a good position on the grid.”

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“I felt good on the bike today, both in the wet and in the dry. We had a little bit of bad luck with the weather, although in the final session we were able to ride in the dry all the time. The setup is already quite good, and we just need to improve a little with the rear grip for qualifying tomorrow. We’ve been able to try out the things we tested in the Valencia test, and it’s all been very positive. We want to lower our times more tomorrow and improve by a few positions.”