Red Bull KTM Ajo rider claims first place on the starting grid for the Aragon GP after a spectacular hot lap. Miguel Oliveira will start from the sixth row.

Brad Binder was the star of the show in Moto2 qualifying at MotorLand Aragon, taking both his first pole position in Moto2 and his team’s first of the season. In total, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team have achieved the feat in the Aragon GP on two occasions, with Miguel Oliveira doing so last year. This Saturday, the Portuguese qualified 18th, after his best lap was scrubbed.

In FP3, the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders worked on their race pace with used tyres and improved their fastest laps for the third consecutive session. Binder, eighth -1:53.698-, ran only two stints, the first consisting of 15 laps, setting his best time and also putting in race distance on a single set of tyres. Oliveira made two visits to the garage and set his top time of 1:53.833 in the final minutes, on new tyres.

In qualifying, Binder was very strong from the get-go, improving on his morning time on his first stint. After a final hot lap, the South African rider clocked the best time of the session -1:53.149-, thus achieving his first pole in the Moto2 class. Oliveira, who worked hard throughout the session, did not obtain the result he had hoped for, after his best lap was cancelled out and he qualified 18th -1:54.011- on the grid.

The 21-lap Moto2 race will start tomorrow at 12:20pm local time. Last year, Oliveira finished on the podium, with a third place. Brad Binder concluded the contest in fifth position.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:53.149
2. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) 1:53.223 +0.074
3. Jorge Navarro (Kalex) 1:53.257 +0.108
4. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:53.257 +0.108
5. Francesco Bagnaia (Kalex) 1:53.275 +0.126
18. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:54.011 +0.862

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA

“It’s been a difficult day, I had my best lap cancelled and that would have placed me a few positions higher. I’m working hard on my bike. I think I have to change my riding style a bit to better adapt to the way of riding this bike. I need to focus more on my angles, on the lines to follow on the track. Tomorrow in the warm up we will see what happens, but I think the set-up we have been working with is quite good for the race. On race pace I’m fine, riding alone I’m fast, but coming from behind you never know what will happen. We will do our best to finish as high as possible.”

41 BRAD BINDER

“We’ve had very good pace throughout the weekend but I didn’t think I could get into the fight for pole, so it’s an unexpected result. On the last lap, I was thinking that the work for the race was already done, so I decided to put in a crazy last lap. Over the course of the weekend we’ve confirmed the good feelings we had in the Valencia test, where we found small changes in the set-up of the bike that make the difference. Moto2 is a very close category and those details are important. I didn’t expect to be able to, but I’ve done it and I’ve set my first pole in the Moto2 class. At this Grand Prix we are stronger than we have been all season. Also, in the race I always step up, so tomorrow I will go out to give it my best, keeping my concentration, and see how far we are able to go.”