Red Bull KTM Ajo rider takes an incredible second position at the Catalan GP and moves to within a point of the Moto2 World Championship leader. Brad Binder achieves a hard fought sixth place.

Miguel Oliveira placed second in this Sunday’s Catalan GP, and did so with his typical flourish. The winner of the Italian GP a fortnight ago after an amazing comeback, at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit he fought back from seventeenth to place on the podium once more. Teammate Brad Binder was also in the rostrum fight, but finally had to settle for sixth position.

The start to the race saw Oliveira breeze past 10 riders in the opening sector. He then began to put in fast laps, moving into the podium spots by Lap 5. The Portuguese would lead the race for two laps, dropping back to second on Lap 10. He opted not to exceed the limit and came home in second place, aiding his title aspirations.Brad

Binder has never been closer to a podium finish this season than today at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit. Always amongst the front group, he became embroiled in a battle with three other riders after the halfway mark. On the last three laps the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider was forced to slow his pace and settle for a podium, rather than take excessive risks.

After his fifth podium of the season, Miguel Oliveira remains in second place in the overall standings with 118 points. He is just one point off the series leader, whilst Brad Binder is eighth -with 57 points- having claimed his fifth sixth place in seven races. The next round will be the Dutch TT on July 1st at Assen.

Results (Race)
1. Fabio Quartararo (Speed Up) 38:22.059
2. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +2.492
3. Alex Marquez (Kalex) +3.485
4. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) +4.398
5. Xavi Vierge (Kalex) +4.687
6. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +7.637

Moto2 World Championship Standing 2018
1. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 119 points
2. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 118 points
3. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 94 points
4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 93 points
5. Xavi Vierge (Kalex) 70 points
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 57 points

Aki Ajo – Team Manager
“It was another impressive race by Miguel [Oliveira]. I have to say that this morning I was a little worried, because our times with new tyres were not at the level we were expecting and the times in the warmup were not good enough either. However, at the key moment Miguel gave everything he had and once again demonstrated his great racing spirit. I want to thank him, the team, KTM, Red Bull and all the partners for making this podium possible. Brad Binder also had a good race. I’m sure he expected more and we have to analyse why he dropped off a little at the end. In any case it has been a solid weekend for him; he has done a good job.”

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“It was a very positive race. Here it was important not to lose too many points and, finally, we ended up getting twenty more for the overall standings. I am very happy because we took a good result for the team after a very tough weekend. In qualifying we had some problems with the bike, so now we will try to focus on improving our performance in practice -which will allow us not to start from so far back and have to take so many risks at the beginning of the race. Although we’ve been doing well up to now, the season is long and we must be consistent, so the team are working to find a solution. When I crossed the finish line, on the lap of honour, I was waving to the fans and I didn’t have my hands on the handlebars. Suddenly, I felt that I’d been hit from behind. Fortunately nobody was hurt. In the end, it’s a good second place that is very important for the World Championship.”

41 BRAD BINDER
“My weekend went great until the final laps of the race. I worked hard and the team did an incredible job. That is what I’ll take away from here. Unfortunately, in the race the bike was slipping out at the front and every lap was worse. On the last three laps I could barely control the bike, I lost the front whenever I went into the fast corners and had to save many crashes. I gave my all from the beginning to the end, and we had to settle for sixth; it was the best result we could achieve. We just have to keep focused on Assen and try to give everything there.”