Speed and more speed for Red Bull KTM Factory Racing as the Gran Premio d’Italia spun around the 15 majestic curves of the Autodromo del Mugello and Brad Binder raced to 6th position in the seventh Sprint of the 2024 MotoGP season. The South African started from 13th on the grid and made seven positions to grab 4 points. Jack Miller launched from the seventh row and classified 12th after 11 laps in Tuscany as Pol Espargaro made a fast return to Red Bull KTM colors in the Spaniard’s first wildcard appearance.
MotoGP gathered at another fast and spectacular racetrack for the second weekend in succession as the world championship moved from eastern Spain to the picturesque depths of Tuscany in Italy. For the 38th time Mugello staged a Grand Prix and brought Red Bull KTM back to the scene of their all-time top speed record of 366.1kmph, recorded by Brad Binder in 2023. For the seventh fixture of the current campaign, the South African and Jack Miller were accompanied by Pol Espargaro.
Friday dawned damp and cool and despite the threat of stormy conditions the track remained dry and typically challenging with the undulations, decent grip and many rapid changes of direction as well as long lean time. Binder and Miller almost made it through to Q2 directly: Binder’s best flying effort would have placed him in the top five but he just kissed the green track limits zone on the final corner and had the lap annulled. Jack was one of seventeen riders split by less than nine tenths of a second as he tried to refine his set-up. Amazingly Espargaro zipped along the vast main straight at Mugello with an evolved spec of the KTM RC16 and equaled Binder’s 2023 top speed figure!
On Saturday Q1 Brad was less than half a second from making Q2 with the old lap record tumbling in the same session. Jack was not far away but took 19th on the grid while a late spill for Pol meant 21st but still less than 1.5 seconds from Pole. Qualification led into the 11-lap Sprint in the afternoon. The KTM RC16s were quick away from the standing start, especially Binder who thrusted through to the top four on the first lap. Brad found his pace and had a busy scrap defending 6th place (five slots better than his 2023 Sprint result). Jack was a little further back in 12th with an improved package; two positions ahead of Pol who completed the Sprint at a time marginally slower than the race-winning effort twelve months earlier!
MotoGP will strain throttles for 23 laps on Sunday at 14.00 CEST.
Brad Binder, 13th in qualification, 6th in the Sprint: “I tried my best lap in Q1 but it just wasn’t quite enough to get through and I knew from 13th I’d need a good start…which is what I did! Our bike is a rocket. After that though I just struggled to turn and felt like I was going deep into every corner. We clearly need to improve something in that area for tomorrow and if we can we’ll be in great shape for the race.”
Jack Miller, 19th in qualification, 12th in the Sprint: “We were able to make some changes from Quali to the Sprint that helped with the vibration we’re having. We were not able to extinguish it, and at a track like Mugello where you need to carry speed through the corners then it’s important. We made a step though, and I could feel the front a bit more and push a bit better. I’m trying all I can and we’ll try and understand we need to do to eliminate it because it’s making us suffer in the later stages. Happy to have finished, and if we can try and improve tomorrow we’ll give it a crack to try and be in the group further forward.”
Pol Espargaro, 21st in qualification, 14th in the Sprint: “I was missing information on the limit with the package that we have at the moment and I was able to find some of it in qualifying! The Sprint was tiring but I’m happy. I was fine with used tires and could manage the lap-times but I had to get used to the turbulence of the speed and in the group. I lost some time for that but it’s one of those things that you get through racing. Some knowledge for tomorrow’s race.”
Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager: “We made things quite difficult for ourselves and it started from Friday when we touched the green track limits and missed Q2. Q1 is always tricky. Brad made his best ever lap of Mugello but it was not enough! An incredible start in the Sprint and he recovered a lot of positions: we know it was difficult for him to do more. We’ve been struggling with a vibration issue for Jack since Friday and it’s been getting better and better but not enough for him to show us his potential with the bike. We’ll try and sort it for tomorrow.”
