Red Bull KTM Ajo riders improve their times at the Moto2 Official Test.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo team put further kilometres under their belt on Saturday, in the preparations for the 2019 season. On the second of three evenings of Official Test action in Qatar, Brad Binder and Jorge Martin continued with their workload with the intention of finetuning the setup of their KTM machines, ahead of next weekend’s season opener.

Binder took advantage of the decrease in wind to lower his best time from Friday in the first Saturday session. A crash at the end of the second hour of testing meant that he would miss part of the final practice, but he was able to put in a top time of 1:59.532 on his last stint, which placed him 14th overall after racking up 39 laps.

Red Bull KTM Ajo teammate, Jorge Martín, made a change to the front end of his bike, which allowed him to get a better feel onboard that was immediately reflected in his lap times. The reigning Moto3 World Champion was able to ride a total of 46 laps and clocked a 1:59.039 lap to place him third.

The 2019 preseason will come to an end tomorrow night, when the Official Test reaches its conclusion.

Combined standings Moto2 – Qatar Test Day 2
1. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:58.824
2. Remy Gardner (Kalex) 1:58.879 +0.055
3. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:59.039 +0.215
4. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:59.119 +0.295
5. Xavi Vierge (Kalex) 1:59.168 +0.344
14. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:59.532 +0.708

41 BRAD BINDER

“Today was more difficult for me. Since the beginning I couldn’t get comfortable and I didn’t have the same feeling as yesterday. I suffered a crash at Turn 2 in the second session, in which I escaped unhurt but the bike was badly damaged. That caused me to miss most of the last session.I want to thank the team, because they did a great job of repairing it in just over an hour.In the end, we have learnt things and I am already looking forward to tomorrow.”

88 JORGE MARTÍN

“It’s been an incredible day for me, since I didn’t expect to feel so good and comfortable on the bike. We made a change to the front end that gave me a lot more confidence. We still have to improve on some points but we managed to set a great pace with used tyres and little fuel in the tank, so I’m very happy. Tomorrow we will continue working on this aspect; we will do a race simulation and we will see where we are really at.”