Red Bull KTM Ajo rider takes fifteenth position on the starting grid for the Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas, following a QP in which he rode in both wet and dry conditions.

Darryn Binder will start tomorrow’s Red Bull Grand Prix of The Americas from the fifth row of the grid, after setting the fifteenth fastest time in Saturday qualifying. The result is his best of the season in a QP session, and was set amidst difficult conditions, requiring a complete change of bike setup midway through.

The rain held off in the morning Free Practice session, and the Moto3 riders were able to enjoy a final fully dry 40 minutes on track. Binder’s session was similar to FP1 from Friday, as he came out strong and was at the top of the timesheets in the opening 20 minutes. His best time was set on his second stint, with a faster lap than his quickest from yesterday, and he ended the session tenth -2:18.398.

Fine midday rain led to the Moto3 riders going out with tyres for wet conditions at the start of qualifying. The South African adapted quickly and was inside the Top5 halfway through the session, but as the track dried out the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider went back to the pits to change the setup of his bike. He was able to complete three laps with the dry setting, and placed fifteenth.

Binder hopes that he can give a good performance in the race tomorrow and take his first points of the season, after some positive practice sessions thus far in Austin. The Moto3 contest gets underway at 11am local time -6pm CEST.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Jorge Martin (Honda) 2:18.629
2. Aron Canet (Honda) 2:19.125 +0.496
3. John McPhee (KTM) 2:19.421 +0.792
4. Tatsuki Suzuki (Honda) 2:19.428 +0.799
5. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda) 2:19.497 +0.868
15. Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 2:20.027 +1.398

40 DARRYN BINDER
“This morning I felt comfortable in dry conditions during FP3, with every tyre option: With the hard and medium. Unfortunately it started to rain in qualifying. I went out on track and as the minutes went by my feeling got better. The feeling was very similar to in Argentina. However, the track was drying out very quickly and I went into the box to put on slicks. That’s when I didn’t feel completely right -I guess because I wasn’t sure of where the limit was in these conditions- and we finished fifteenth. It is the best qualifying session of the season so far for us, so it’s not bad. In addition, we have a good pace for tomorrow’s race.”