Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto3 rider finishes first day of Dutch GP satisfied, despite not setting the desired fast lap.

The combined timesheet from Friday at Assen does not tell the whole story of Darryn Binder’s performance. The South African was satisfied with the opening day of action, and was very competitive in terms of his pace -even with worn tyres. Only his failure to clock a good lap on his final stint with fresh rubber relegated him to 25th position.

On a sunny morning uncharacteristic of Assen, Binder changed his usual planing in FP1. On this occasion, his team divided the 40 minutes into three stints, the first two with the same set of tyres. On the last run he took an important step forward, improving his previous time by two seconds and climbing into the Top 15 to finish twelfth with a time of 1:44.221.

Using exactly the same strategy for stops and tyres, the results were practically the reverse in FP2. Binder had a great pace with worn tyres, improving his time from the morning and riding inside the Top 10. On the other hand, he was unable to make the most of a new set of tyres and was 25th, courtesy of a 1:44.181 lap set on his first run.

In general his feeling is positive; so much so that the South African hopes to enter the Top 10 in the qualifying session, which will take place tomorrow from 12:35pm local time.

Results (Combined practice times FP1-FP2)
1. Aron Canet (Honda) 1:42:677
2. Jorge Martin (Honda) 1:42.771 +0.094
3. Gabriel Rodrigo (KTM) 1:42.815 +0.138
4. John McPhee (KTM) 1:42.832 +0.155
5. Philipp Oettl (KTM) 1:42.856 +0.179
25. Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:44.181 +1.504

40 DARRYN BINDER

“FP1 this morning didn’t go badly; I had a good feeling and at the end, with new tyres, I was able to set good times, so I finished off happy.
In the afternoon things went well from the beginning. I felt comfortable with used tyres and had a good pace. We ran new tyres for the last two laps but, unfortunately, it was impossible to take advantage of those laps. In any case, I feel good with the bike, so I’m sure that qualifying will go much better than today. I’m not worried, it’s a circuit that I like and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. The objective will be to finish QP in the Top 10, and I would be very happy with that.”