Brad Binder close to pole position at Dutch GP
29/06/2019The South African rider will start from second on the grid at Assen with his teammate, Jorge Martin, on the fifth row.
After a positive opening day at the Dutch GP yesterday, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team confirmed an unwavering performance in qualifying today at the TT Circuit Assen. Brad Binder had his best Saturday of the current season and will start from second position on the grid tomorrow, with Jorge Martin on row five, in 14th.
Binder started Saturday in fine form, topping the timesheets in the early stages of FP3. The South African was one of the riders to put in the most laps – 20 -, as he focused on tuning the set-up of his bike. Finally, Brad ended the practice session 12th – 1:37.480. Jorge Martin had an increasingly positive session and, on his penultimate attempt, the Spaniard stopped the clock at 1:37.148, finishing in third.
The combined times from the three free practices put the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 pair directly into Q2. Brad Binder went top at the beginning of qualifying, holding onto that position for most of the session. Only one rider was able to beat his time right at the end of Q2, and the South African will start in second on Sunday, thanks to a personal best of 1:36.682. Meanwhile, Jorge Martin was 14th – 1:37.405 -, lapping within a second of the first classified.
The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders will begin their 24-lap Dutch GP race tomorrow at 12:20 pm local time.
Results (Qualifying session)
1. Remy Gardner (Kalex) 1:36.572
2. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:36.682 +0.110
3. Xavi Vierge (Kalex) 1:36.716 +0.144
4. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:36.771 +0.199
5. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:36.855 +0.283
14. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:37.405 +0.833
41 BRAD BINDER
“Today was a great day, it’s been a while since we were so high up in qualifying. I’m happy because it’s been a positive weekend so far, much better than the previous rounds. I want to thank the whole team and KTM for all their work, I think we’re going in the right direction. There is still a lot to do but now we are much closer. I’m really looking forward to the race getting started tomorrow; I want to see if we can take advantage of this good result in qualifying and push for a positive position in the race. Tomorrow morning we’ll try to finish tuning the set-up of the bike in order to be 100% prepared and to be able to give it our best.”
88 JORGE MARTIN
“This morning I was very comfortable, I had a great rhythm alone. We found a setting that worked well with the track conditions at that stage. However, in Q2 the feeling was not the same. I gave it my all to make a good lap time and qualify as high up as possible. In the end, we’ll get away from 14th position on the grid, which is a positive result, but I know we can be further up. I hope that tomorrow in the warm up we can find that little bit extra we need to have an exciting race.”