The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider finished 13th in Brno, whilst it was an unlucky day for Brad Binder, who crashed out from tenth in the final third of the race.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team wrapped up an intense weekend of work on Sunday at the Czech Grand Prix, the tenth round of the 2019 season. Jorge Martin produced a solid comeback to finish 13th and earn further valuable World Championship points. For his part, Brad Binder suffered an unfortunate crash whilst riding in tenth position, with seven laps left.

Binder had a great start from 16th on the grid, making up five places on the first lap and moving up to seventh in the opening phase of the contest. The South African continued to race in the middle of the field, battling to reduce the gap to his rivals. Unfortunately, with seven laps to go, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider crashed out at turn 11, when he was riding in tenth position, meaning he was unable to finish the race.

Jorge Martin began from 19th on the grid and gained six spots during the race. The Spaniard finished in a hard earned 13th position, which places him in the points for the second consecutive GP. With this performance, the current Moto3 World Champion registered another positive result and he now looks forward to maintaining his progress at the Austrian Grand Prix.

Following the Czech Grand Prix, Brad Binder remains in eighth place in the general standings with 84 points, while Jorge Martin is 19th with 13 points. In just seven days, the Red Bull KTM Ajo team will be racing at their home round, the Austrian GP takes place at the Red Bull Ring next weekend.

Results (Moto2 Race)
1. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 38:49.768
2. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Speed Up) +3.018
3. Enea Bastianini (Kalex) +4.158
4. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) +4.290
5. Luca Marini (Kalex) +7.031
13. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +23.119
DNF. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo)

Moto2 World Championship Standings 2019
1. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 161 points
2. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 128 points
3. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 110 points
4. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 110 points
5. Marcel Schrotter (Kalex) 107 points
8. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 84 points
19. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 13 points

Aki Ajo – Team manager

“The expectations for this weekend were quite high, with the new version of the bike. However we were unable to produce a better performance with this machine. Besides, the weather conditions made it harder to find a good set up. In Moto2 it’s difficult to bring in new parts, because the regulations are very strict and we have to try out several things during the Grand Prix weekend. We have to make the right decisions for the Austrian GP and for the Monday test after the race, which will help us in the upcoming rounds.”

41 BRAD BINDER

“I’m not pleased with how point went today, but I’m physically fine and that’s the most important point. At this race we didn’t find the required set-up to compete with the top riders. I gave 100% throughout the contest, I pushed ahead at the beginning, however little by little my rivals were getting away and I started losing positions. By that time, I just tried simply to stay on the right line, but in the end I crashed. Now is the moment to think it through and to analyse the information we gathered this weekend. We have a lot of work to do.”

88 JORGE MARTIN

“It was a difficult race. At the beginning the tyre temperature went up a lot and I couldn’t push. I think we lost a lot of time with respect to the front group because of that. As the laps went by, I started to feel better and regain some positions but, at the end of the contest, I had to deal with the tyre wear, so I just focused on finishing. Finally we got 13th, we achieved some points and we gained experience that I’m sure will help us in the future.”