Brad Binder and Jorge Martin had an intense day of practice on Friday, riding in the opening free sessions in Spain.

The 14th round of the 2019 MotoGP World Championship commenced today at MotorLand, with the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders working hard in FP1 and FP2 at the Aragon Grand Prix. Brad Binder secured a provisional Q2 slot, after finishing 9th on the combined timesheets on Friday, with Jorge Martin in 16th, just three thousandths of a second outside the cut.

In the 40 minute FP1 session, the Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders both made great progress, notably reducing their times on each run. Jorge Martin’s personal best was 1:53.502 – achieved on lap 10 of 15 – which saw him finish in eighth position. His teammate, Brad Binder, was just behind in ninth, courtesy of his 1:53.527 fastest lap.

n the afternoon, the South African rider continued to work hard on the set-up of his bike and managed to beat his morning time in the final minutes of FP2. A 1:53.271 placed him ninth again in that session and also on the combined timesheets, within the provisional Q2 slots. On the other side of the box, the Spaniard made a good start and was up in the Top 5 initially. Finally, Martin was 15th in FP2 and 16th overall, just three thousandths of a second outside the Q2 places.

The Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 riders have their last free practice tomorrow morning to prepare for qualifying, which will take place at 3:05 pm (Q1) and 3:30 pm (Q2) on Saturday afternoon.

Combined practice times (FP1 – FP2)
1. Augusto Fernandez (Kalex) 1:52.474
2. Luca Marini (Kalex) 1:52.752 +0.278
3. Lorenzo Baldassarri (Kalex) 1:53.103 +0.629
4. Sam Lowes (Kalex) 1:53.111 +0.637
5. Alex Marquez (Kalex) 1:53.131 +0.657
9. Brad Binder (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:53.271 +0.797
16. Jorge Martin (Red Bull KTM Ajo) 1:53.502 +1.028

41 BRAD BINDER

“In general, today went well. In the afternoon I felt better than in the morning. In FP2 I was comfortable again and I was able to push harder. We have to keep working, because I need a little more feeling on acceleration. Tomorrow we will try to focus on this and if we can improve this point, we can be even higher up. The goal for Saturday is to do well in qualifying, but we still don’t know what the weather will be like. We’ll see what the conditions are like and work from there.”

88 JORGE MARTIN

“Today was a tough day for us. In FP1 we had a good base, but this afternoon we took a step backwards when trying to improve on certain aspects. We have to look at what changes we need to make, because I just didn’t feel completely comfortable on track. Above all we need to find something that helps me on braking and also some modification for more rear grip. We know the way to go and with the data we collected today I’m sure we will be able to improve. Tomorrow the forecast is for rain, but I’m not too worried as I usually do well in the wet. The objective will be to get into Q2, as the grid position is very important here.”