Sunshine and blue skies coated qualification and the final MotoGP Sprint of the season around the flat and winding Circuito Ricardo Tormo, and the resurfaced asphalt staged a searing charge by Brad Binder as the South African scored 2nd place on his KTM RC16. Teammate Jack Miller finished 12th but shone in qualification for 4th on the grid.
The Gran Premio de la Comunitat Valenciana, the traditional season-closing event for MotoGP, was tremendously lucky with the late autumn climate in eastern Spain as blue skies and warm sunshine helped raise the temperatures for practice on Friday and then the qualification run and final Sprint of the season on Saturday.
The confined, tight and curving 4km course had been resurfaced and was a grippy prospect for the riders and teams, contemplating the last Grand Prix of the season and also of a demanding triple header. On Friday Brad Binder and Jack Miller were immediately on pace; Binder was just one thousandth of a second from the seven year all-time lap record and ranked 6th. Miller had two falls but was still fast enough to make Q2 comfortably as less than half a second split the top ten.
The team then entered Q2 and were competitive from the outset. Binder held P1 and lapped consistently on the fringe of the old lap record. The South African looked to be heading for the first row until the final minutes when a sterling effort from Miller lifted the Aussie up to 3rd. When the ’00:00’ flashed up both KTMs were inside the top five and side-by-side on the second row.
The Sprint lasted for 13 laps and Binder lunged into contention for the win while Miller had a technical problem that affected his start and meant he had to cut from the rear of the pack all the way to his finishing position of 12th. Brad meanwhile caught and passed two riders to seize the lead briefly. He then shadowed Jorge Martin all the way to the flag through the last circulations; the gap was less than two tenths of a second at the finish.
MotoGP will rush around the circuit for 27 laps on Sunday afternoon at 15.00 (CEST).
Brad Binder, 5th in qualification, 2nd in the Sprint: “I had a really good race today. On the first lap I tried to be aggressive. I put my head down and got to the lead. I had a lot of moments out there and didn’t quite have enough to take the win but super-happy to be back on the podium.”
Jack Miller, 4th in qualification, 12th in the Sprint: “Qualifying pace was good and everything was going great until I engaged the front ride height device and then had a problem.. I was button-bashing to reset things and get ready but launch control was gone so I had to start ‘old school’ but with these bikes it’s really complicated and I just tried to keep it alive until I could hit second gear and then it was alright. At that point I’d gone from 4th to 21st in Turn 1. It won’t happen again tomorrow! I passed ten guys to come back. Just one of those days. I was obviously planning for a different race.”
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “Emotional Saturday because of the crashes for Brad and Jack these days but qualifying was really good. Both in Q2 and on the second row. Unfortunately, Jack had an issue at the start and he tried to recover some positions but the start is crucial here in Valencia. Brad got away well and he managed the leading group. There were not enough laps for him to re-attack and get the lead back but it was very close. Happy with this Saturday and our last chance tomorrow.”
- From KTM Factory Racing
