Lusail, Qatar: With the final testing ahead of the season taking place in Qatar only a few weeks ago, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing were already well accustomed to the Lusail International Circuit and it showed with two podium finishes in the Sprint and Feature races for Brad Binder at the weekend.
Saturday’s Sprint race was the first chance that fans under the lights in Qatar and around the world got to see Teams go racing this season. Brad Binder got away superbly from the second row and shot into second place where he stayed composed to claim the Team’s first podium of the season. Jack Miller came home to claim 10th after losing the bike on lap 2.
Sunday’s Feature race saw another healthy crowd packed into the modern and impressive Lusail International Circuit as the MotoGP action got underway for the second time at the scene of the traditional ‘curtain-raiser’.
A mechanical problem for Raúl Fernández of Trackhouse Racing caused a delay to the start of the race. When the lights finally went out, much like the previous day’s Sprint race, Brad Binder powered through to second place from the second row heading into Turn 1.
Binder showed incredible reactions to stay on his bike during lap 1 after an aggressive dive up the inside from Bagnaia, ultimately dropping Brad to third.
Miller starting from 11th on the grid also displayed KTM’s standing start prowess, launching up to 6th. However, one lap later and Miller was unlucky to slip out of the running while trying to hold a tighter line into Turn 1 and losing the front of the bike.
Miller managed to stay with his bike while sliding off the track and was able to rejoin the action, but he had to endure a lonely ride at the back of the field and completed the distance outside of the top 20.
Meanwhile, at the front Brad continued in pursuit of the World Champion, Francesco Bagnaia, who had overtaken Jorge Martin to take first. In the slipstream, Brad shot up the inside into Turn 1 and reclaimed second with phenomenal braking at the start of lap 2.
The two continued to battle for the second podium position while staying in touching distance of Bagnaia. With 10 laps to go, Brad looked like he was able build a gap, but with two laps to go Jorge Martin put in his best lap of the race to come back in contention.
Brad stayed sharp and had confidence in his RC16 to defend throughout the final lap of the race and to claim his second second-placed finish of the weekend.
After a double podium to begin the 2024 season, Francesco Guidotti, Red Bull KTM Factory Racing Team Manager said, “A great race by Brad. He was outstanding out there. This isn’t one of our best tracks – or hasn’t been – so to be 2nd twice gives us a lot of confidence for the future. Also, the change we made to the bike after the Sprint made him happy.
“Crashing out meant that Jack could not take anything from the race but I am sure that he will be back near the front really soon. Portugal is another round for us and another challenge but with Brad in this kind of form and Jack with potential we can be optimistic.”
An unfortunate start to the season, Jack Miller said, “Not how I wanted to start the season but those are the cards we were dealt today. The guys went a bit deep into Turn 1 and I tried to hold a tighter line and the front went away.
“I picked the bike up and was pushing afterwards but I was missing something today. I could not run close to the pace we needed. A head scratcher. We will try to work out what went wrong and try to fix it for Portimao.”
Claiming two podiums from the first weekend of the season, Brad Binder said, “Super-happy to be leaving with 2nd place again. I thought I might have had a bit to catch up and take the lead but every time I got a little closer then the gap stretched again!
“Anyway, we are happy to start the season this way. I think winning again is only a matter of time. My bike was next-level again, even after the improvements we had made for yesterday, so my team did an immense job. Hats off to them.”
Round two will see the sport and paddock unpack their European Grand Prix set-ups for the first time when they arrive at the Algarve International Circuit in southern Portugal next week.