After a close qualifying session, the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders will start from 10th and 15th, respectively, at the last race before the summer break.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo team took on qualifying for the German GP this Saturday afternoon, and lap times were incredibly tight amongst the Moto2 field. The top times were set on the opening laps, and Brad Binder -10th- and Miguel Oliveira -15th- obtained places on the fourth and fifth rows of the grid, respectively, amidst favourable track conditions.

Binder and Oliveira devoted the last Free Practice session looking for their race pace. Running new tyres at the start of the session, the pair put in opening stints of 20 and 19 consecutive laps. It was after their pit stop that both have clocked their personal best laps of the Free Practices, with Binder placing seventh -1:24.563- and Oliveira tenth -1:24.652. The Top 10 were separated by just 4 tenths of a second.

In the afternoon, the Red Bull KTM Ajo duo had another evenly matched qualifying session. Binder was one of the few riders who set his best time on his last run, overcoming the high temperatures and setting a 1:24.178 time that put him 10th. Oliveira was unable to lower his 1:24.360 time that he set on the third of twenty-two laps, finishing the session in 15th position.

The objective for tomorrow’s 28-lap race, held at 12:20pm local time, will be for Binder and Oliveira to make another of their trademark fightbacks and place on the podium. Both have previous rostrums at the Sachsenring (the South African in 2014 in Moto3 and the Portuguese in 2017 in Moto2).

Results (Qualifying Practice)
1. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:23.787
2. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:23.968 +0.181
3. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 1:23.970 +0.183
4. Sam Lowes (KTM) 1:23.971 +0.184
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:24.021 +0.234
10. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:24.178 +0.391
15. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:24.360 +0.573

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“We are a little further off than we would like. Both the team and I gave everything, but for now it has not been enough to place higher on the grid. We have to look ahead to the race; the positive is our race pace with the hard tyre, which is the one we will use tomorrow. I will try to overtake as much as possible at the beginning and look for a good position to get closer to the front. The section up until the first corner is somewhat short, but anything can happen and we will do our best.”

41 BRAD BINDER
“I am very happy with our final position, and besides that my pace is really good. I am a little disappointed that I did not find the tenths that we needed, because my goal was to start from one of the front two rows of the grid and, unfortunately, we will start from the fourth row. My plan for tomorrow is to make a good start, try to overtake as many riders as possible and focus on my pace until the end.”