South African rider finishes eighth at the San Marino Grand Prix, rounding off the weekend in positive fashion.

Darryn Binder turned around a tricky weekend at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli this Sunday, in the twelfth race of the year. He made a brilliant comeback from 23rd on the grid to place eighth, thus claiming a second Top 10 finish of the season.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo rider got a good start, riding 19th after the first lap and 10th after the second, when several other riders crashed out. Binder fought with the second group during much of the race, overtaking well and competing for sixth place with three other riders. Keeping his pace up throughout the 23-lap contest, he crossed the finish line eighth, just 7.3 seconds behind the winner.
Having claimed 8 points at the San Marino GP, Binder now has a total of 28, which places him 22nd in the Moto3 World Championship.

The next round takes place at MotorLand Aragon from September 21st to 23rd, just ahead of the flyaway series.

Aki Ajo – Team Manager
“This was a very difficult weekend for Darryn [Binder] at Misano, in terms of the practice sessions and qualifying, but today in the race he made a great comeback and rode really well. He was fortunate to gain places due to the crash in front of him, but it should be noted that he had a good pace and didn’t finish far off the race winner. I hope that this result gives him confidence for the coming races.”

Results (Race)
1. Lorenzo Dalla Porta (Honda) 39:38.684
2. Jorge Martin (Honda) +0.058
3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda) +0.122
4. Gabriel Rodrigo (KTM) +0.822
5. Jakub Kornfeil (KTM) +6.553
8. Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) +7.380

Moto3 World Championship Standing 2018
1. Jorge Martin (Honda) 166 points
2. Marco Bezzecchi (KTM) 158 points
3. Fabio Di Giannantonio (Honda) 137 points
4. Aron Canet (Honda) 118 points
5. Enea Bastianini (Honda) 117 points
22. Darryn Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 28 points

40 DARRYN BINDER
“I’m quite happy with today’s race. We fought back from 23rd to 8th, partly because of some crashes in front of us. Our pace was good and consistent compared to what we had yesterday. We didn’t make any big changes from Friday or Saturday, only small details; it’s just that today in the race I felt better when I pushed. I’m happy because I think we are taking steps in the right direction and I feel that I still have a lot more to offer. I think that I can take the fight to the front group soon. We need to take away all the positives from this weekend and apply them at Aragon, to start there in the same way that we have ended the weekend at Misano.”