Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider to take off from fifth place at the Thai GP. Brad Binder will start from the third row.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders earned strong results in qualifying at the Chang International Circuit on Saturday, achieving their first goal for the weekend. After some satisfactory Free Practice sessions, Miguel Oliveira took fifth place on the starting grid -the middle of the second row. Heading the next row will be teammate Brad Binder, in seventh place.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders ran different strategies in FP3. However, the results for both were similar, as the pair improved their feeling from Friday, set new personal bests and broke into the 1:36s. Binder, in sixth, made only one stop, completing his 1:36.907 best lap midway through the session. In seventh place was Oliveira -1:36.969-, who had a great pace on all three of his stints.

In qualifying, the great equality in the intermediate class was again on display, with the Top 7 separated by less than 2 tenths. Miguel Oliveira was one of the first to set his hot lap -his best of the entire weekend- on his fourth attempt, with a 1:36.529. That earned him fifth place. Binder put in his best times in the final part of the session, when battling to get onto the front row. His 1:36.545 lap placed him seventh.

Oliveira will try to cut the 19-point gap to the World Championship leader tomorrow, whilst Binder will look for another great result after his victory in Aragon. The Moto2 race will start at 12:20pm local time -7:20am CEST.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:36.374
2. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:36.400 +0.026
3. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:36.408 +0.034
4. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:36.527 +0.153
5. Miguel Oliveira (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.529 +0.155
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.545 +0.171

44 MIGUEL OLIVEIRA
“Qualifying for the Thai GP was quite good for us, as we were able to improve on our FP3 time. The lap times are very tight and being able to complete my best lap at the beginning of the session gave me a break. In the rest of the session we were able to try things out with the rear shock absorber, but that didn’t help us to improve our time on the last run. The important thing is that I feel very comfortable ahead of the race; all weekend we have been in the top positions, with a good pace, so we are ready to have a good race. It will be a physically tough race but I hope to hold up as well as possible, to finish as high up as possible.”

41 BRAD BINDER
“Qualifying today went really well. I felt that we did a great job and I was able to lower my lap time three times in three practically consecutive laps, which is very positive. We were less than 2 tenths off pole position, in seventh, so that is not bad. I feel like I’m ready for tomorrow’s race. Obviously I would have liked to have been at least on the second row, but in the end it’s about small details and everything is very tight. I want to get a good start, catch a good slipstream and get into the leading positions as soon as possible.”