The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider finished second in qualifying by just 0.017s, whilst Brad Binder is on the third row of the grid for the last race of the year.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 team are on top form at the last Grand Prix of the 2019 season, with Brad Binder leading FP3 on Saturday, before Jorge Martin qualified on the front row for tomorrow’s race. The Spaniard was second in Q2, achieving his best qualifying result to date in the intermediate category. His teammate, Brad Binder, will take off from the head of the third row on Sunday at the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.

Brad Binder rode well right from the word go on Saturday morning, leading FP3 and twice beating the track record he had set yesterday. The South African rider led the way at the top of the timesheets since the beginning of the session, making constant progress throughout and setting the fastest time of 1:34.463. On the other side of the box, Jorge Martin took a step forward compared to yesterday and improved on his Friday personal best by eight tenths. His time of 1:34.867 earned him seventh place in the practice.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 pair therefore went straight into what turned out to be a very tight Q2 session, in which Jorge Martin pushed it to the maximum on his last lap to finish second. With a strong time of 1:34.478, the Spaniard was just 0.017s off pole position and tomorrow he will start from the front row for the second time this year. For his part, Brad Binder was a mere three tenths off the best time, lapping in 1:34.727 for seventh on the grid, and is positive about his race pace.

The 25-lap Moto2 race at Valencia will start tomorrow at 12:20 pm local time.

Results (Qualifying session)
1. Jorge Navarro (Speed Up) 1:34.461
2. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:34.478 +0.017
3. Stefano Manzi (MV Agusta) 1:34.633 +0.172
4. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:34.646 +0.185
5. Thomas Luthi (Kalex) 1:34.674 +0.213
7. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:34.727 +0.266

41 BRAD BINDER

“It’s been a good weekend overall so far. I’ve been fast in every session. In qualifying we had some issues and it didn’t go as well as we expected. I didn’t feel as comfortable on the bike as in free practice. Seventh on the grid is fine but it will be important to make a good start tomorrow in order to stay with the riders in front.”

88 JORGE MARTIN

“I’m very happy. Getting this qualifying result at home is fantastic. I didn’t expect to produce such a quick time, because I had a good pace but for one fast lap I was finding it a bit harder. I risked a lot in Q2 in order to be at the front, because I knew that it would be very important for tomorrow. We have finally achieved that. I think we have the required pace to fight for the podium, so I will push to the maximum from the start. If the tyre is still in a good condition at the end, we can fight for the top positions and hopefully even for the victory. It will be a tough race with five or six riders in with a chance to win, but we will try to be up there.”