Red Bull KTM Ajo rider climbs nine places at the Circuit Of The Americas to take a second third place in a row. Brad Binder claims a hard fought sixth place.

Miguel Oliveira was able to place on the podium at the Circuit Of The Americas, one of the few tracks on the calendar where he had not been on the rostrum before, on Sunday. Coming through from the fourth row of the grid, the Portuguese worked his way up the order lap after lap, to finally finish in a magnificent third position. Brad Binder gained ten places to match his best result of the season so far: Sixth place.

Starting from the fourth and sixth rows, Oliveira and Binder did not have an easy task ahead. However, both got off the line well, completing the first lap in eighth and ninth place, respectively. From there, the Portuguese began to push and gain places as the laps went by. A key moment in his race came with 8 laps remaining, when he was able to get into third place and start a final charge. Despite escaping and cutting the gap to the rider in second place, he would finish just over 1 second behind, in third.

Binder followed his teammate, until getting stuck in the fight for fourth place with four other riders. The South African would only lose out on fifth position after being passed on the final sector.

After the first three races of the season, the Moto2 World Championship now heads to Europe. Miguel Oliveira will come into the Red Bull Spanish GP at Jerez -on May 6th- in fourth place overall with 43 points, while Brad Binder is eighth with 20 points.

Results (Race)
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 39:30.016
2. Alex Marquez (Kalex) +2.464
3. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +3.704
4. Joan Mir (Kalex) +5.376
5. Iker Lecuona (KTM) +6.867
6. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +6.876

Moto2 World Championship Standing 2018
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 57 points
2. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 47 points
3. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 47 points
4. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 43 points
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 39 points
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 20 points

AKI AJO – TEAM MANAGER
“We should be very happy with the results of the Moto2 race in Austin today, and even more so after the qualifying session yesterday –which didn’t go as expected after a good Friday of Free Practice sessions. Racing is like that sometimes, so of course we need to analyse what happened on Saturday in depth. Today I am very proud of the team and our riders. I thank them for the work done throughout the entire weekend.”

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“I am very tired after today’s race, because it was a very interesting, demanding round, and also very tough when starting from a position so far back on the grid. The start was not easy, but in the end I was able to avoid contact with other riders on the first corner. Later, as the laps went on, it was difficult because we were skidding around a lot. It was not the perfect weekend for us, but we are back on the podium for the second consecutive race and this makes me happy. Now it’s time to go back to Europe and face a circuit where we have ridden a lot: Jerez.”

41 BRAD BINDER
“After today’s race, I’m neither happy nor disappointed. I can’t say how I feel. I was very comfortable on the first few laps, and very fast, but as the race went on my feeling got worse. On the final laps, with an empty fuel tank, my feeling with the front end didn’t allow me to turn well. The important thing is that from a bad day like the one we had yesterday, we have been able to fix things with this sixth position, which is not bad. We want more and to do better at Jerez.”