South African rider takes hard fought win in Austria. Jorge Martin places seventh in his best result of the year.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo team had a magnificent home Grand Prix, capped by a winning performance from birthday boy Brad Binder. The South African rider turned 24 on race day, and gave himself a perfect gift with victory at the Red Bull Ring. Teammate Jorge Martin achieved his best result in Moto2 to date, concluding the Austrian GP in seventh position.

Binder, who started from second on the grid, took the lead on the first corner. He would hold onto it for the remained of the 25 laps, but had to withstand the pressure of a large group of riders just behind him. The Austrian GP win was his 11th victory as a World Championship rider, all of them with Red Bull KTM Ajo, and his fourth in Moto2. He is now seventh in the overall standings with 109 points.

Jorge Martin achieved his best result as a Moto2 rider so far, crossing the finish line in seventh. The Spanish rider took the start in 12th, and concluded the contest inside the points for the third consecutive race, showing the step forward he has taken after the summer break. Martin occupies 19th position in the World Championship, with 22 points.

The next challenge for the Red Bull KTM Ajo riders will be the British GP, held at Silverstone from August 23rd to 25th.

Results (Moto2 Race)
1. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 37:24.963
2. Alex Marquez (Kalex) +0.330
3. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) +1.839
4. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) +2.183
5. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) +3.303
7. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +5.200

Moto2 World Championship Standings 2019
1. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 181 points
2. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 138 points
3. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 126 points
4. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 121 points
5. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 115 points
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 109 points
19. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 22 points

Aki Ajo – Team manager

“It was a great day after all the difficulties we have had this year. Here was the best place for it to happen, at the home of KTM and Red Bull. I couldn’t be happier. Brad had an outstanding race, keeping all his rivals behind him. He had the strategy of leading every lap and it worked out. I’m very grateful to the whole team, because everyone is working hard, and also to the people at KTM who helped us achieve this victory. I also would like to thank all our sponsors. I’m very happy for Jorge too, as he had some difficulties at the beginning of the race but kept the gap to the front close. I think he has the speed to fight for victories.”

41 BRAD BINDER

“Today was an incredible day. I knew we had a solid pace and that this was a good circuit for us. Achieving victory in front of all these fans of KTM and Red Bull is an insane feeling. It is something that I have never experienced before. I’m very happy and I want to thank KTM and Red Bull. My team have worked hard and tried their all throughout this year so far. It feels good to be able to return the favour with a result like this. Tomorrow we have a test and I think we will try some options to maintain our competitiveness.”

88 JORGE MARTIN

“It was a very good race and I’m happy to have finished seventh. We enjoyed a great weekend and the pace we had was very consistent. It was a shame to have lost so much time on the first three laps. After that, I was able to go fast. We must continue in the same way, since this was a solid GP. In tomorrow’s test I will try to improve by that little bit that we need in order to fight for the podium.”