Third row on the grid for Brad Binder in Le Mans

18/05/2019

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider will start the French Grand Prix from eighth position, while Jorge Martin will get away from thirteenth.

 

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team worked in difficult conditions today at Le Mans, as cold weather and light rain affected the action at the French track. Both riders went straight into Q2 courtesy of their Friday lap times, with none of the participants able to improve in FP3. The South African will start from the third row of the grid, while his teammate will commence Sunday’s race on the fifth row.

Brad Binder and Jorge Martin put in solid performances in a wet FP3 session. The Spaniard rode smartly given the conditions of the track and thanks to his best time on his last lap – 1:45.271 – he finished sixth. Putting in a total of 18 laps like his teammate, the South African was 20th in the final free practice of the weekend, with a 1:47.052.

In Q2, Brad Binder dealt well with the rain again and, on his last lap, he set a time of 1:50.927, which puts him eighth on the grid. On the other side of the box, Jorge Martin was provisionally in the top 10, before finally qualifying in 13th place – with a 1:51.145 best effort.

The fifth race of 2019 in the Moto2 class will start at 12:20 pm local time tomorrow and will be contested over a total of 25 laps.

 

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 1:49.055
2. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 1:49.133 +0.078
3. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:49.585 +0.530
4. Mattia Pasini (Kalex) 1:49.906 +0.851
5. Xavi Vierge (Kalex) 1:50.232 +1.177
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:50.927 +1.872
13. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:51.145 +2.090

 

 

41 BRAD BINDER

“I felt pretty good. It was tough with the rain furthermore, I had to deal with the rear of the bike, especially on corner entry, which made it difficult on exiting consequently. Anyway, we positioned ourselves well enough and I feel ready for tomorrow. We will have to see how the weather is on Sunday. I hope the race is dry, but I think it will be complicated. Regardless of that, my goal is to find where my limits are and put in 25 perfect laps.”

88 JORGE MARTIN

“It was a strange day. In the morning it was difficult, but we improved little by little. I was confident for the afternoon, but when I went out on track I didn’t feel as good as I expected to. I tried to do my best and I pushed hard, but I was lacking some rear grip. I decided that stopping in the box in the middle of Q2 was the best option to take a step forward, but it didn’t work out like that and we went backwards. In the end we qualified in 13th. Tomorrow if the race is dry we have a good pace. If it’s a wet, we know where to improve, which is important.”

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