Red Bull KTM Ajo rider complete the Qatar Official Test satisfied with the progress made with their new KTM Moto2 bike.

The final day of the Official Test in Qatar brought the 2019 preseason to an end for the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team today, as riders Brad Binder and Jorge Martin rounded off their workload for the visit to Losail. The pair ended in a positive way this Sunday’s practice and are ready for action ahead of next weekend’s season opener at the same venue.

Better weather conditions and a lack of wind allowed Binder to complete 58 laps. Making steady progress, the South African clocked his best time of the test in today’s second session, and his 1:58.999 lap was over half a second quicker than his Saturday marker. The 2016 Moto3 World Champion ended Sunday in tenth place on the combined timesheets.

The reigning Moto3 World Champion and Moto2 newcomer, Jorge Martin, continued with his setup work. The Spaniard performed a long run and a total of 49 laps during the evening. Martin set a 1:59.042 time that put him eleventh, but a crash in the last session prevented him from further improvement.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo riders will be back in Qatar from March 8th to 10th to contest the opening round of the season.

Combined standings Moto2 – Qatar Test
1. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:58.439
2. Tom Luthi (Kalex) 1:58.663 + 0.224
3. Remy Gardner (Kalex) 1:58.755 +0.316
4. Augusto Fernández (Kalex) 1:58.757 +0.318
5. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) 1:58.787 +0.348
10. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:58.999 +0.560
11. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:59.039 +0.600

Aki Ajo – Team manager

“It has been a tricky weekend, since the weather was constantly changing and made the track conditions vary, forcing us to adjust the bike to the different circumstances. On Friday we started very well, with Brad leading the timesheets, but today we had to deal with some issues. Even so, we are happy because we have extracted some very important information from these past three days. The Moto2 class is getting more competitive all the time, so we will have a very tight season ahead.”

#41 Brad Binder

“On Friday it seemed that everything was fine; we had some problems but we were not too worried about them. However, over the last two days we couldn’t find what we were looking for. Overall, the whole team have worked hard and, although we have had some difficulties, we have done our best. This test has allowed us to assess where we are and see what we need to do to be faster. If we can fix those details, we’ll be further up the order.”

#88 Jorge Martin

“Today was another very positive day. To start with, it was a bit difficult, since the track conditions had changed and I didn’t feel comfortable. But thanks to the great work by the team in the second session I started to feel more and more at ease and managed to set good times -even with very worn tyres. In addition, I performed a long run of 12-13 laps that helped me to see where we are at. It’s a pity that in the last session I suffered a crash when trying to set a fast lap, but luckily I was unharmed.”