Barcelona, Catalunya – Round six of the season featured The Gran Premi de Catalunya. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing flew around the sunny and warm climes of the slick and low grip Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Grip was one of the main concerns for the weekend’s track activities. The riders and the team selecting diligently working together on race set-up and tire choice to tackle the problematic tarmac. The Saturday Sprint provided a taster of what Sunday’s racing conditions would provided. But with the unpredictability of the conditions, the temperatures increased along with extra sunshine on Sunday.
Brad Binder shot off the starting line and was neck and neck going into the first corner. However, on the outside of Turn 1 and running three-wide, the South African played it safe, avoiding any kind of contact and settled for third position after starting fourth. By the end of the first lap, a late lunge from Jorge Martin pushed Binder back to his original starting position of fourth.
Meanwhile, Jack Miller was also making moves, up three position running in sixth on the opening lap having started ninth. But on lap 3, disaster struck as the low grip of the Catalan circuit proved true, Miller tumbled out race at Turn 10.
During the opening laps, Binder was poised to pounce on any mistakes from the Top 3 runners, but the opportunity never came and he had to manage his tyres and drop his pace.
As the race wore on, Binder was reeled in and the chasing pack began to snap at his heels. Aleix Espargaró eventually took fourth from the South African with 14 laps to go. Over the following laps and grip fading on Binder continued to drop back. He came home to take 8th place at the flag.
Binder now drops to Eighth in the Championship Standings while Miller sits in 15th. Red Bull KTM Factory Racing are currently sixth.
After a disappointing result in the feature, Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager, looked at the positives and said: “A bit of a shame for Jack with an early crash and he didn’t make any strange move. We know the grip is very low here and maybe at the start of the race he didn’t have the pace he wanted and tried to catch the group.
“No big drama because it had been a good weekend otherwise. Mugello is one of his favorite tracks so let’s see if he can show his real potential there.
“Brad tried really hard to stay with the leaders and was managing it until the front feeling started to drop and he also didn’t have the best grip from the rear. He controlled what he could and brought the bike home. Let’s try again in Mugello where Pol [Espargaro] will also join us and where we’ll also have the Monday test to work.”
After the race, Brad Binder said: “It was a bit tricky in the race today. We’d been good here all weekend but after six laps in the race the front tire dropped off and in the last few weeks when I’ve ignored that strange feeling then I end-up crashing.
“So today I needed to be a bit careful and when I felt the limit coming I had to lower the pace. I could not make time on braking and entry and nursing it around meant there were not really moments where I could make pace. A tricky day.”
After an impressive start, Jack Miller said: “Obviously extremely disappointed. Let the team down and let myself down. We are trying to be better and stop these silly mistakes. I just trusted the front too much, too early and I tried to carry the corner speed as I had done all weekend but the track conditions were different.
“Without warning it disappeared. There was not much I could do. A tough one. It had been nice, running with the boys again, we just need to get that confidence in the front up again. We’ll keep working. It’s a testing time in my career but with the right people around me I know I can right the ship and come back stronger in the races to come.”
The next round features Mugello where KTM set the MotoGP top speed record of 366.1kmph.